Aster Hall
by MX5
Summary: Ruby Gray was a victim of domestic violence when one night she turns up at Aster Hall, Jim Moriarty's country estate. Over time they bond and she becomes her old self again. Jim sees potential in her and helps her to become a part of his criminal network.
1. Chapter 1

Aster Hall

Chapter 1: An Interloper

Onward she ran, barely pausing for breath as she leaped over fallen logs, dodged tree branches, stumbled and fell in a gully, rolling down a hill and finally coming to a stop in a clearing.

"He's not going to get me," she muttered, trying hard not to hyperventilate. "I'd sooner die that give him the satisfaction!" one hand balled up into a fist as she walked out over the valley.

A mansion loomed up in front of her as she winced, rubbing the still bleeding cut on her arm. The mansion was painted in white, perfectly trimmed cypress trees dotted the landscape randomly. There was no fountain or marble statues nearby, no outwards shows of ostentation. A few beds of white asters were clustered on either side of the main entranceway.

Darkness still hung over the estate and surrounding valley but it was beginning to lighten up a little bit in the eastern sky. A flock of birds passed by, getting ready to migrate south for the winter.

The lady pushed back her dark red hair, deciding what to do now. Her clothes were worn and ragged from catching brambles as she ran, there were a few mud splatters on her arms and face.

"So much for being respectable," she took off her button up shirt, scowling at the long tear down the back her ex boyfriend had made trying to catch her. "asshole."

She took the white gravel pathway up to the front door of the estate but noticed a nagging pain in her head which only crescendoed with every step she took. By the time she managed to make it to the front door, her vision went blurry and she felt her head wound start bleeding again.

The entire mansion started to dance in front of her eyes as she put her hand against one cypress tree nearby, fighting off the blackness that was threatening to overtake her consciousness. The pounding in her head was too intense for her to struggle against for long and she finally collapsed.

A few hours later the darkness was gone, replaced with the pink and yellow tinge of dawn. The front door opened up and a figure wearing a smart gray suit with slicked back hair walked out onto the porch. He held a blue mug in one hand and was checking his text messages with the other.

Jim Moriarty was always an early riser by nature. He had been the first one up in his household as a kid and the habit had never left him. Sherlock hadn't bothered to respond to his last message so he closed out the text window and checked the news headlines.

"Boring!" he sang in his singsong voice, thrusting his phone into his pocket and descending the stairs.

A glimmer of the morning sunlight reflected back at him, making him swear at the sudden brightness. When he looked closer, he found a prone figure near the cypress treeline.

"What?" kneeling down, Moriarty saw a girl-a woman really, out cold after what he initially thought was a drug overdose. Closer inspection revealed that the woman had actually been beaten, as there were multiple bruises and cuts all over her body. Moriarty suspected a concussion at least, probably mild but she had to be looked after.

"Who knows?" a smile tinged his features, one which had a hint of malice. "You could be useful to me."

Moriarty picked her right up, noticing that she felt a little underweight for her height, marched in through the open door, shut it, then went down the hallway.

One room of his mansion had been especially designed to function as a pseudo hospital room by the previous owner. It had worked for awhile; the old owner had to go into hospice care anyway but Moriarty never had any intention of changing the room around.

Opening up the door, Moriarty walked over to the gurney and put the woman down on it. He lowered the bars on the sides, stripped her down to her underthings, then began to administer to her cuts and bruises. The woman had taken quite a beating; minor cuts and bruises were everywhere but there were a few cuts that needed stitching. One cut had narrowly missed the shallow artery on her arm. Two millimeters to the left and she would have bled out in under a minute.

There were a few medical doctors in his criminal network so Moriarty had taken some advice from them when self doctoring. Not all his criminal encounters had him walking away scot free so he'd Facetimed or called one of his doctors, taking their directions on how to administer to his injuries.

Moriarty was well versed in the minor injuries like the ones the woman had suffered so he didn't need to call for advice. Her head injury was what bothered him a bit but he knew to leave it alone. Moriarty cleaned her head wound, bandaged it, then put an ice pack over it to reduce swelling.

Pulling open a drawer, Moriarty pulled out a small black rectangular device, opened it like a book, then put it on the woman's index finger. Within a minute it beeped, he removed it, then looked at the readout which said 85.

"That's not good," Moriarty remarked as he ripped open the packaging on a length of sterile tubing, hooking one end up to an oxygen cylinder, then threaded the tubing over to the woman, inserting the prongs into her nostrils, tucking the tubing over her ears and adjusting it securely under her chin. "your blood oxygen saturation rate is too low."

He straightened up, pulled out a stethoscope, then applied the disk to her chest.

"Well, isn't that interesting!" Moriarty drawled. "I can have some fun with that later."

Finishing up, he threw away the packaging and suture kit, put the instruments in the sterilizer, turned it on, then left the room.

Moriarty walked down to his room, sat down at his desk, then turned on his laptop. With a little practiced care and attention, he expertly cracked the security code in a highly classified database. Moriarty meant to find out everything about the woman currently in his care and MI5 seemed like the place to start.

There was a glitch with his computer and his printer wouldn't work, so Moriarty had to scribble it all down with loose leaf notepaper and a pen.

Name: Ruby Michelle Gray.

Hair: Red.

Eyes: Gray.

Height: 5'6''.

Weight: 125 pounds.

Identifying features: Star shaped mole on third finger of right hand.

Profession: Computer Programmer, formerly a dermatology intern.

Criminal Record: None.

"That's not very fun!" no criminal record disappointed the criminal but he had other projects going on and Ruby was off limits for now while she recovered.

Shoving the papers into the desk drawer, Moriarty checked his cell phone for the time. It was just past 9 AM and he had a "business" meeting scheduled for ten. The car would be around any time.

Moriarty picked up his black greatcoat, put it on, then donned his black gloves. It was mid November and the air was chilly now. He put on his black shades, walked casually down to the front porch, then took a leisurely stroll down the gravel path to the driveway.

Right on time, the sleek black limo appeared and the chauffeur opened up the door for him. Moriarty grinned and got in, pulling out his phone again and checking messages. Still nothing from Sherlock but for what he had planned later on that night, Sherlock would be there.

"No you won't!" Moriarty's high pitched voice echoed from the walls of the pool room. He walked away blithely, knowing that the Irene Adler who had called him would deliver the goods on the royal currently in her clutches.

That could wait a bit. Irene needed to do her bit, how depraved and sexual it would be Moriarty didn't need to know. He'd seen all the pictures on the website she owned, while attractive enough and willing to do anything to accommodate all kinds of fetishes, nothing would induce him to share a bed with her.

Upon arriving home it was well after dark, the outside lights were on and so were the foyer lights. Moriarty turned off the timers for the lights, going down to the hospital room to check on his "patient".


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Ruby

Ruby's POV

I woke up in some hospital room somewhere-it wasn't like any hospital room I'd ever been in before. My head still hurt but it wasn't as bad as before. I turned my head and found an ice pack had been put there but the ice had long ago turned to water. Taking it off, I put it on a tray nearby.

I could tell that it was dark outside through the little window, but was it just hours after my attack and subsequent fleeing or was it night again and I had slept away the entire day? What the hell was this tube thing doing under my nose? I wanted to remove it but the doctor would not like that.

Thankfully I could tell that I had escaped relatively unscathed. The scoundrel had not chased me very far which I was particularly grateful for.

The door opened up and I turned my head, seeing a brown haired and brown eyed guy wearing a dark suit walk into the room.

"Hi," he sang out carelessly, sauntering over to me. "I'm Jim."

"Ruby,"

"Pretty name," he was kind of cute but I refrained from making any comment on that like I would normally. "how do you feel now?"

"My head hurts but that's all," I was honest. "why do I have this?" the tube underneath my nose was beginning to itch me.

"Don't touch it," Jim put his hand on mine and directed it away. "your hands are so cold."

"I'm always cold," I told him frankly. "so when does the doctor come in?"

"I am your doctor," a crooked grin and I couldn't tell if he was teasing or not. "I wanted to retest your pulse ox levels before I turned in."

"Say what?" a black rectangle thingy was put on one of my fingers and beeped.

"Your blood oxygen saturation rate or how much air you're getting into your blood," Jim explained as he unclipped my finger and read it. "much better! It was 85 and you'd be in the hospital because of that. Now it's 97%."

"Good, I guess." Jim released me from the tubing and turned the canister off.

"Now I have a question,"

"Shoot." he encouraged.

"Did he follow me?"

"Who's he?"

"That rat bastard I call an ex boyfriend! He did this to me after a night out drinking with his pals."

"I didn't see anyone else when I found you." he sounded genuinely confused so I chose to let that go.

"You've saved me, Jim and I thank you so much."

"It's nothing." Jim had a great poker face. I couldn't tell anything about him from it at all.

"Well, I need to get a place to stay. He'll have kicked me out and sold off all of my things by now." my blood boiled with rage at that drunken oaf!

Jim could tell what was going on behind my eyes-I wasn't a particularly hard person to read like he was. He put a hand on my arm to steady me a bit, then ended up taking my pulse.

"There's no need for you to get excited about it," he told me mildly. "why don't I take you to a guest room tonight and you can get some much needed sleep?"

"This isn't a hospital?"

"No. This is a hospital room designed by the former owner of this house for hospice care." Jim told me as he assisted me to sit up. He draped a robe over my shoulders so my modesty was intact and made me take his hand as I stood up.

He snatched a syringe from a nearby tray, deposited it in his pocket, then moved back over to me, making sure I wasn't wobbly. Jim took my hand again, ushered me out the door, then down the hall towards a room. Steering me in the proper direction, he opened up a door on my right, then gestured to me.

"Oh my gosh." it was beautiful! The room was painted in pale green, there was a fireplace, opposite that was a big four poster bed with pale purple linen. The four poster bed had tieback curtains, white with purple violets. In front of the fireplace there was a small space rug and two armchairs in a light blue color.

An adjacent door in the corner revealed a tiled black and white bathroom with gold painted fixtures. It was bigger than most bathrooms with a luxurious bathtub I could not wait to try out.

Jim smiled mechanically as I looked over the room, then pointed me towards the bed. There was a gray lounger at the foot of the bed so I could stretch out and read if I wanted to.

"We will discuss your living arrangements tomorrow," he said as I got into the bed and lay back. "are you comfortable enough? How's your head pain?"

"Not too bad." Jim loomed over me as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I want to check your heart again."

"Uh, OK." he listened to my ticker but had such a mysterious grin on his face. Most people would say he was happy that my heart didn't have any odd noises to it but something about that smile made me uncomfortable.

"Your heart sounds fine to me. Do you want anything for your pain?"

"Why wouldn't my heart sound fine? I'll take some medicine with sedatives in it preferably."

Again that mysterious smirk on his face. Jim pulled out the syringe, checked the dose, then told me to extend an arm. When I did, he found a suitable vein to inject, gave the requisite dose, then remained by my side to watch as the drugs started to affect me.

Jim put a bandage over the injection site, disposed of the syringe, then observed my eyes closing. He tucked my arm back under the covers, got very close to my ear and whispered a "Sleep tight."

If I could have, I would have told him that we were veritable strangers and getting too close to my personal space would have earned him a punch to the arm. I heard him get up from my bed and sounds which had been him striking up a fire in the fireplace.

MORIARTY

Moriarty made sure that his guest was out cold from the drugs he'd given her, stoked up a fire, put the fire screen in front of it, then left the room. He'd banked the fire so it would burn until midnight and then go out.

All in all it was a profitable day. Some corporation one of his cohorts was holding hostage paid up their ransom and he benefited tremendously from the amount he'd been given. A few of his spies had been put in major drug corporations and were giving him crucial information about insider dealings and whatnot. Jim knew the more accurate the picture his spies gave him, the more information he could threaten to blackmail the companies with.

Blackmail was a specialty to him but he did it all. Forcing Sherlock to solve all those crimes within a small window of time was amusing to say the least. He'd seen the detective struggle and spin his wheels in momentary frustration but Jim knew Sherlock would get it in the end.

It was odd to have such faith in your enemy, but Jim was no mere enemy. He was determined to be the greatest foe Sherlock ever had. The criminal took off his shoes, tossed his clothes in the laundry, then got into an old t-shirt and pajama pants.

It was more than odd for him to have a house guest. He'd never had one before and now that he'd met her, he found her interesting. Not as interesting as Sherlock, but interesting nonetheless. She had a mysterious background and all he knew was that her ex boyfriend beat her.

When the time was right, he would offer her a deal. Jim smirked to himself as he got into bed. Suppose her ex suddenly met with some sort of "accident" or something equally as tragic? Some of his past cases had been wealthy women with designs of revenge on their ex spouses or boyfriends.

They could learn something from Irene Adler who had a huge stock of items in her phone from sessions with clients. She didn't want anything yet but as Jim had determined, it was a power play designed to have the establishment feel threatened and worried.

There would be time enough to offer his guest a deal. Ruby first had to face a hard truth. He wouldn't be the one to tell her, though the symptoms would reach her soon.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: An Arrangement.

Jim opened up his eyes in the morning light, inwardly cursing. He'd forgotten to draw the blinds closed last night. Now he'd never be able to get back to sleep. The criminal got out of bed, went to the shower, shedding his pajamas as he went, then turned on the hot water tap.

When he was done, Jim dressed himself in his dark blue suit, a particular favorite of his, then went downstairs to make coffee. It did occur to him that he should feed his guest something but he was never much of a cook. With his coffee mug in hand, he went up to Ruby's room to check on her before he left for the day.

RUBY POV

At about quarter to 8 in the morning I woke up, feeling pretty good. There wasn't any residual pain from the concussion so I felt up to getting dressed. To my surprise the clothes I had been wearing were nowhere to be seen. My black boots were standing up near the closet but that was it. The butterfly hair clip I had worn was standing on the bureau along with a comb and brush set that looked a bit expensive to me.

Questions would be answered later. The single item in the closet was a purple fleece bathrobe. I shed the flimsy hospital johnny Jim had put me in the day before, eagerly enfolding myself in the rich folds of delicate looking fleece. Tying the sash, I glanced at the fireplace to see if it had burned out from last night and it had.

A knock on the door sounded as I finished putting my hair up in the clip and I bade enter. Jim came in, looking snazzy and holding a coffee mug.

"Ruby, how are you feeling today?" he asked casually, taking me in with his eyes. What a sight I must have been! I hadn't had a shower in a few days so I was certain that I reeked. Not to mention the shadows under my eyes.

"My head feels pretty good actually." I sat on the lounge as he came over to me.

"Does it?" he seemed a bit surprised. "Well, that's good to hear."

"My clothes-"

"Not to worry about those; they were torn to shreds in your predicament," Jim sat next to me. "I've taken the liberty to order some new clothes for you."

"Really? I-"

"Yes indeed, Ruby. I have a proposition for you," he took a sip from his mug and when it was evident I did not intend to interrupt, he went on. "I need someone to look after this house and cook. You may work in the garden though the groundskeeper trims the lawn. I will pay you about $200 a week for your services."

"In addition to living at the mansion?"

"Correct. I think you will like it here." his dark eyes seemed to smile at me.

"As long as I don't get beaten for doing things wrong I will accept."

"Wonderful!" Jim stood up. There was a curious look about him as he gazed for a moment at the sash I had tied on, but looked up at me in a flash. "You start tomorrow. In the meantime today, relax. You'll find a few surprises around in your bathroom and bedroom. Have fun!"

That high pitched voice again. Whenever he got excited it would come out. I wondered if he was just as happy as I was in getting a stable place to live and company who wouldn't verbally abuse me.

Jim left as I wondered about the surprises. He hadn't given me any clues but I would find out soon enough. First off I wanted to strip down and get into that tub!

Leaning over the side, I twisted the hot water tap and was astonished at the speed of the hot water. In my old place I had to wait about thirty seconds for it to come on. I adjusted the water temperature to my liking, then peeling off my robe and unclipping my hair, I sank into the warm and humid atmosphere.

Sitting on the corner of the tub nearest to me was a bottle of Clairol, a bar of Dove soap, and a brand new loofah mitt. I washed my hair thoroughly, scrubbed down my entire body with the mitt and soap, and by the time I was done my skin gleamed.

I didn't want to get out but my skin was looking pruny around my hands so I reluctantly did so. A light pink terrycloth bath towel was folded up on the counter, so I took that and draped it over myself. Rubbing down my limbs, I vigorously put the towel around my head, shaking it a bit so my hair would stop dripping. There was a hair dryer but I didn't like those-my hair would turn into a haystack.

My clothes would not be arriving until later I supposed, so I got back into my robe. A small clutch bag attracted my eye in the top drawer of the vanity. I unzipped it and shook out the contents.

Makeup! I blinked in disbelief as I saw the black eyeliner pencil, a palette of eyeshadow colors, some in metallic, bright pink and bright red lipsticks, a compact full of bronzer, mascara. All of the makeup was pretty expensive but it was a gift and I didn't need to think about expense. A note tumbled out of the bag as I flipped it upside down again.

"One of my neighbors asked me if I would like to have this stuff as she didn't use it. Guess it came in handy, eh? -Jim."

I had to grin.

Downstairs I found the kitchen, done in a Mediterranean style. The fridge was well stocked so I made an easy breakfast for myself.

There was a note on the fridge door, telling me as soon as I ran out of something add it to the list and he'd order it. How great it would be to cook and not really worry about going out to replenish it!

I noticed a package of stewing beef in the fridge so I dug around in the cupboards, found a crock pot, then plugged it in. Along with the stewed beef I cut up some other ingredients, seasoned the meat, added some beef broth, then turned the crock pot on high.

Stewing beef in a crock pot took at least 7-8 hours. There was a lot of muscle in the meat that had to be slow cooked to break down the tendon and muscle fibers. I'd done it before a few times, having gotten a thorough education on cooking from my dad.

Jim's living room had a spinnet piano in the corner furthest from the wall, a fireplace with a wall mounted TV on top of the mantle, and shelves of books on the opposite wall. His couch was black leather, same for the armchair. A coffee table made of pine with a slate top sat primly in front of the couch. Two end tables looking identical to the coffee table each had a twisted wrought iron lamp.

Here I was interrupted by a deliveryman from a local store. I signed for the packages that he delivered, helped him take the boxes up into my room, for it was the clothes Jim promised me.

It was mainly everyday stuff, jeans, t-shirts in different colors, sneakers, yoga pants, etc. There was even a blue sequined dress, a plain pair of black pumps, a black and gold sheath dress, a few skirts and dress tops. Necessities were taken care of, socks, underpants, bras.

Talk about a wealth of stuff! I put the everyday items in the dresser, hung up the dresses, put the pumps and my boots in the closet, then pulled out an ensemble for that day. A plain red t-shirt, yoga pants, sneakers and I was completely comfortable.

Absently I fingered my left earlobe, making sure my diamond stud earring was still in. Both were and had never fallen out but I was paranoid about them. They were the only thing I had of my late mom. I strode into the room, chose a book about Tudor England, plopped down on the lounge and began to read.

"Ruby! You up?" Jim's voice fell into my consciousness. A warm hand touched my cheek, startling me from my musings.

Jim laughed at my reaction. "You startle so easily! I trust you got the clothes I ordered for you." he looked approvingly at my attire. "I can smell you've been in the kitchen already and it's supper time."

"It is? Damn, did I fall asleep?"

"I guess you did. Come on now if you're hungry." we went down to the kitchen, got out utensils and bowls, then I doled out portions for us. The crock pot had been simmering all day, intoxicating us with the smell, now it was time to attack!

Jim enjoyed it as much as I did. "What is this?"

"It's called Lazy Bastard Stew," I replied cheekily. "I'm glad you like it as we'll be eating it for the next day or two."

"What else can you make?"

"Just about anything. My meatloaf I make has achieved legendary status. I also make a pretty mean spaghetti and meatballs."

"That'll be next on my list!"

I laughed. "Mine too. I haven't had it for so long."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Settling In

A couple of days went by without any problems. Jim was accommodating enough, I upheld my end of the deal by cooking and cleaning, etc. It was late fall so the grounds didn't need any care at all.

I was sitting on the couch in the library reading a volume of Dickens when I heard Jim enter the house and hang up his jacket. He walked into the living room, crossed over to me, then sat beside me on the couch. I inserted my finger into the section I had been reading then closed the book, my finger acting like a bookmark.

"So I have news for you," Jim began. "I have sources which know your ex boyfriend."

"Yes?"

Jim's dark eyes were intense as he focused on me. "You should know now that your ex has made a false complaint against you to the police. He says you were abusive to him physically and mentally and of course they bought it."

"That's not the first time he's done it to me!" I growled. "Every time I would go to the cops to lodge a complaint he's there first!"

"We'll just have to one up him, don't you think?" now those dark eyes had a kind of delight in them.

"How? I'm an insignificant nobody!"

"Not true," Jim took my hands in his for some reason. "I had my source run a background check on some of your ex's buddies and they are as corrupt as they come."

"Ty was always in with a slimy crowd," I murmured. "he's such a dickhead."

"I have a plan regarding Ty,"

"Tell me."

"What if he and his corrupt coppers were blackmailed?"

I smiled deviously. "I don't have any dirt on him but the background checks might."

"They're cops which means they wiped their own records."

"Not a problem. Have you got a laptop and a reliable signal?"

Jim brought me his personal laptop, a sleek black Toshiba Satellite with the funky backlighted keyboard, then signed me into his account. "I was a computer programmer so I can bypass most security." my fingers flew across the keyboard as I accessed the local Scotland Yard police files.

My housemate (for I did not think of him like a friend yet), watched me, apparently mesmorized by the fast work I made of the police database. My ex, Tyrone Blackburn, had an extra layer of security on his personnel file

"That's odd. They would only do that if he had prior offenses to his record." Jim muttered.

A few clicks later I discovered that he had sexually molested a rookie female cop who was mysteriously thrown off the force a month later for some reason. The file only read classified, so I had to do more hacking to get into it. Sure enough it turned out that Ty had tricked the woman into corrupting evidence at a crime scene. The crime scene wasn't specified but it was enough to fire her.

"There we are. The file's all classified so do we make this public via Wikileaks or just stick to blackmail?" I asked, downloading the file.

"Blackmail is better. Let him suffer if he has any brains left," Jim answered decisively, his eyes definitely lighting up now. "he needs to pay for his crime."

"I like your thought, Jim. The file's all on your hard drive now." I handed him back his laptop.

"I'm impressed by your abilities." he was looking at me a little differently now. A little intrigue, perhaps? It didn't matter as I accepted the compliment for what it was and put the book of Dickens away. Jim closed his laptop and went to his office.

Upstairs I started making the beds, mine first then Jim's. He'd told me yesterday that he definitely appreciated me making his bed every day and keeping his room dust free. I took pride in my work, yanking up the bed sheet all the way, then I made a sharp crease in the fabric, folding it about 6 inches down. A folded sheet always looked nice and tidy.

On the other side I eyeballed the fold, making sure it was completely symmetrical, then pulled up the duvet, folded the top part back, then arranged the pillows. I had a special trick that I used to make the pillows look more plump and they stood up on their own.

Turning to the windows, I opened them up so the sun would shine. I was about to fold and put away his clean laundry when I heard him muttering.

"Sherlock…. You disappoint me.." he turned into his room and looked mildly surprised that I was there.

"Sherlock Holmes?" I said casually as I ran my dust rag over his bureau.

"What do you know about him?"

"I know Sherlock is a prattling little pig. I had a run in with him about a year ago. He went right up to me outside his home and gave me some running on blather about how I needed to stop doing something or I'd never land a man," I snorted nastily. "who in the hell asked him?!"

Jim smiled at me. "You find him annoying."

"I find him such a braggart and a show off! I would admire the man who could take him down!" I slammed the bureau shut angrily.

"Well then, start admiring."

"What?" Jim closed the gap between us.

"I am going to take Sherlock down," he whispered into my ear almost sensually. "he is going away for good."

I smiled at him like the Cheshire cat. "If you want help that I can offer, let me know."

"You'll be the first to know," Jim winked at me, nudging his nose to mine. He was using confusing body language as I didn't know how to respond to him. I decided to just go with it and tease him like he seemed to be teasing me. "it'll be fun."

"Well then," I tossed my hair back, exposing my chest and a peek at the white lace bra I was wearing. "I can't wait to get started." Jim sneaked a peek when he thought I wasn't looking. He chuckled at me as we both walked out of his bedroom.

"One thing at a time."

I gave Jim a wink right back. "Keep me informed."

"You will be the first to know." he promised, giving a little nod. Jim turned and walked down the hall as I went into my own room.

It was a chilly day today so I stoked up a fire in the fireplace, and as I turned to grab my hairbrush on the bathroom counter, I found a small round pale blue pill and a note from Jim.

"This is an iron supplement. I noticed you looked a bit pale lately. -Jim."

"Quite observant he is." I took it without question.

An hour later I was cooking up supper in the kitchen with my specialty which Jim had seemed very interested in. Spaghetti with meatballs. I'd started the meatballs earlier and the sauce was just about ready. My dad taught me the recipe, telling me to always sautee the onions, pepper and garlic beforehand to let them mingle and release their rich aromas.

It was because of this recipe that I have and will always hate jarred sauces which always had sugar in them. A good tomato sauce should never be spoiled with sugar!

"Smells wonderful in here," Jim startled me as I pulled out the colander with a little rattle. "is it done yet?"

"Give me a moment," I wrangled the colander free with a jerk and shut the cabinet door. "just let me drain off the water and you can make your own."

"Sounds great." did my ears mistake me or was Jim actually showing enthusiasm? He doled himself out a portion, eagerly sat down and tried it. I could see him trying to control himself as his eyes lit up with pure enjoyment.

"I haven't had anything this good.. I don't think I've ever had spaghetti and meatballs this good." he amended.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Reaction

The fire was still going; I stoked it up a bit more and put a log of birch bark, replaced the fire screen so no embers would fly out at me, then settled back in my lounger. Jim and I had agreed to use two methods of blackmail-work and personal, meaning me. That rookie cop he'd harassed probably wouldn't be willing to come forward so it was natural of Jim to suggest a backup.

"Of course we don't need her to ruin his life," Jim drawled. "I can always get one of my assassins to kill the rookie cop and frame him for it. A nice cut and dry case so the cops wouldn't have to strain their tiny little minds for long."

"I don't care," I told him. "do whatever you think is best."

"By the way," he turned in his chair as I loaded the dishwasher. "did you take that pill I left for you?"

"I did about half an hour ago."

"Just checking." Jim put away the leftovers and I went upstairs.

Staring into the flames for a long moment, I let a little smile creep across my face that probably looked a lot like Jim's. I did not know a lot about my employer but it seemed he liked to cause people harm. That was a low interpretation but I didn't have all the facts. He seemed to like me and I liked him so that was well and good by itself. I didn't choose to spy on him to learn more or anything like that. Jim seemed pretty indifferent to me and I was the same to him.

Besides, in time I was apt to learn more.

I had just about finished the word search when a spasming pain from my pelvis pierced into my concentration.

"Aw crap!" why in the hell did Mother Nature see fit to inconvenience me at times when I was happy? Why in the hell did this have to happen?

The cramping pain intensified then subsided a bit. There was a dull aching in my pelvic region but I could live with it. With my word search completed, I stood up and nearly fell over as another cramp flared.

"This is not normal. I never have pain this bad." I sat on the edge of the bed as yet another cramp seared its way across my pelvis, causing me to cry out in pain. This was something else completely, I was sure of it.

A brief knock on the door sounded and Jim poked his head in. "Ruby? What's going on in here? I heard you in the hallway."

"I'm not sure," he saw my hand over my pelvis. I was internally wishing I could reach in and pull my uterus out so I could set it on fire and watch it burn. "I was fine until an hour or so ago. I started cramping up more fiercely than I usually do so I know something's wrong."

"Sounds suspect," was all Jim said. "lie down."

Obeying him, I lay supine to allow him to administer to me. He picked up my left wrist and pressed his finger to the carotid artery to check my pulse. I could tell by the look on his face it wasn't good and while he didn't say anything I knew my beats were too fast.

"I'm allergic to aspirin," I told him vehemently. "I'll bleed."

Jim's eyes, so prone to giving a little hint of what he felt now and again, now had a definite hint of alarm. As to why I had no idea, but I do know he put a fleece blanket over me, pulled out his phone, then left the room.

I was what you would call half in and half out of it I would think. Sometimes my mind would register what was going on, but mostly it was a dreary grayness like a fog. The first thing I remembered was Jim barging into my room with an armload of what looked like medical supplies. He dumped it all on the other side of my bed, stood over me, then my vision went blurry.

Next thing or scene I saw was Jim speaking but it wasn't to me. He had a Bluetooth earpiece in one ear, a syringe in one hand.

"I gave her the pill," he was saying. "she took it and a few hours later she's started to internally bleed and she's spiking a fever."

Was I? I didn't feel any different. Jim injected me with something-adrenaline I would imagine. He rifled through his supplies, chose a few other syringes and some small portable device which looked like a netbook.

Again my consciousness faded as he started taking the blankets off of me and a gust of warm air came over from the fireplace.

"Yeah, the pill worked..." was all I remember him saying.

Afterwards it was completely quiet. I felt all right again, at least that horrible cramping pain had finally stopped. Where was Jim and why the hell did my body react so violently to one little supplement?

"Well well," Jim drawled lazily as I opened up my eyes. "nice of you to join me again."

It was daytime and the first snow of the season was swirling around the windowpanes. There was only a glimmer of sunshine in the sky at all and Jim had the fireplace alight so we would be warm.

"What time is it?"

"Almost noon." Jim was sitting by my side in one of the armchairs he'd dragged over. He was as usual stuck to his phone. "How are you feeling?"

"OK. I don't understand what happened to me."

"I gave you an iron supplement because you looked pale. After that once you metabolized it, you started having a reaction and went into shock. I didn't understand why either until I called the manufacturer of those supplements and he told me the shipment had been mislabeled. What you got was a powerful experimental drug that doesn't have a name. It definitely had aspirin in it which explains your reaction."

"Yeah, that's true I guess." I managed to sit up with some effort as Jim reached out his arm to steady me. My muscles screamed at me as I raised up my left arm and massaged my wrist.

"I'm all stiff," I complained. "I suppose a little yoga will help."

"Do you need help?"

"No thanks."

"All right then. I'll be downstairs if you need me." he picked up the little netbook and left the room. From the USB drive I could see an interesting looking plugin device that was oddly shaped but I paid no mind to it.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Who can guess what Jim secretly did to Ruby? I'll reveal it later!

Chapter 6: Out In Public

Christmastime passed in Aster Hall with barely any recognition at all. Jim had told me rather callously that he'd never celebrated the holiday and didn't intend to start now. I had undertaken an excursion while he was away for a few days and plucked some pine boughs from the forest. Along with some floral wire I created a straight line, adorned the center with a big red velvet ribbon, then put it on the mantlepiece in my room.

Jim I didn't think would care much if I decorated the house but I wanted to err on the side of caution for now. It was never easy to tell what he was thinking anyway.

The holidays passed with Jim out of town all Christmas week while I moped and stared out of the window. My parents were long gone and I was an only child so family was out of the question. I didn't know if my friends had reported me missing or if they were even really my friends to begin with. All I really had now was a guy who had apparently no emotions whatsoever and treated me with distance.

New Year's day I treated myself to a luxurious bath in that gorgeous tub, soaking up all the warmth and moisture that my skin needed. My hair was sleek and clean, so I picked up a book on Catherine of Aragon I'd found and began to read.

"Ruby?" a knock on the door then Jim came right in. I got up, draped a towel over me then turned the drain so the tub would empty.

"Just a second!" I toweled off my hair so I wouldn't drip all over the floor, then switched the towel for the bathrobe I'd left hanging up.

Jim watched me warily, wearing a dark brown suit that matched his hair and eye color perfectly. My skin shone with the moisture from the bath and a drip started from the nape of my neck, trickling down my back. I wondered idly if he'd notice all the drips running from my collarbone down to my chest and beyond.

"I have a business meeting that I need to attend," he began. "you would fit the bill as my assistant, I believe."

I narrowed my eyes, immediately suspicious. Weeks of silence and maybe a word here and there then all of a sudden he's coming to me with this. "Are you using me as arm candy?"

"Yes," he admitted. I had to hand it to him, he was very upfront when he wanted to be.

"What choice have I got? Do you need me to dress like a slut or businesswoman?" I walked past him and opened up the closet. Jim didn't even glance into the closet but stared at me like he was reading my mind.

"Whatever you think best. Be ready in 30 minutes." he left without another word.

At last something to break the monotony! When I appeared before Jim I could have sworn that he actually looked impressed for a fraction of a second with me. I wore a red burgundy suit jacket with matching skirt and a white camisole top. Black nylons and boots made sense in the cold weather; my jewelry was pretty conservative as well. I wore simple red drop earrings and a red pendant necklace.

Jim had never seen me so spruced up and wearing makeup. It was pretty low key with a metallic light brown eyeshadow, black eyeliner, mascara, red lipstick.

In the car I did not speak but I noticed out of the corner of my eye Jim eyeing me and the outfit. I'd left my greatcoat unbuttoned so he could see it all at once.

"I can't let you know where my estate is so I need to put you to sleep." Jim brandished a small canister with a spray nozzle at me. This was getting a little surreal to me, but I abided by his odd request. I didn't have Internet access so there was no chance of me betraying the location at all. The nozzle hissed, then my eyes closed.

"Time to wake up," I felt my shoulder being shaken gently. "all right? It takes a minute or so to wear off." the dizziness did evaporate pretty quickly as I regained my equilibrium.

Once we left the car, Jim led me into the pub, claiming a small corner table. Jim said nothing, just ordered a scotch while I had regular beer.

"That's what you drink?" I popped the top with ease and took a swig.

"I don't do hard liquor."

"I can see that." Jim's business associates came into the pub then and I realized how unfortunate I was to have volunteered to go with him. They did nothing but talk about their business which I had no interest in.

Finally when it concluded (nobody had asked about me or even acknowledged I was there which I thought was very rude). Jim put some money on the table, beckoned to me, then walked with me outside into an alleyway.

"See anything familiar?" a police car was parked at the corner with the blue lights flashing away. The cops were walking towards us with another person in tow, hands cuffed behind his back. His sweatshirt wrist cuff slipped and I saw a tattoo I'd seen dozens of times before.

"Tyrone? What did you end up doing to him?"

"One of my associates tortured that female rookie cop he framed until she cracked and sang like a bird. She also implicated two of his buddies which they'll be investigating soon enough. He will be thrown off the force and spend the rest of his life with other male prisoners."

Jim had just barely finished speaking when shots rang out. Jim grabbed me and we both ducked down, dashing over to the car to kneel behind. In the confusion I saw that Tyrone had been shot right in the arm, then in the neck. He went down like a ton of bricks as the police shouted, trying to find out where the killer was.

All I had to do was glance at Jim who gave me a knowing wink. He stood up, gave me a hand up, then we went into the waiting car.

"I take it that was your sniper out there?" I brushed my hair out of my face which had been ruffled by the wind. Jim gave me an impish grin.

"I thought it would be best if you saw it up close and personal," he wasn't joking about that either. I could see in his eyes a kind of darkness or more rather a hollowness. It was like someone had forgotten to teach him right from wrong. Whatever it may be, Jim was clearly missing something from his conscience or maybe it was hidden away and forgotten about.

The thought startled me so I jumped almost through the roof when he touched my arm. He was wielding the little can of knockout gas again so I sighed and submitted.

"Don't let it ruin my makeup."

"It won't."

"You don't have a sense of humor, do you?" the nozzle hissed.

I woke up on the couch in the living room. My shoes had been removed, a fire had been lit, Jim was nowhere in sight.

A memory stirred so I closed my eyes and visualized it. Jim had difficulty trying to wake me up so he simply fished me out of the car and picked me up completely. For some reason I felt very secure and protected when he was holding me. I'd relaxed further and fell deeply asleep.

"Ruby? You awake yet?" the singsong voice drifted from the kitchen. Jim brought in two mugs filled with hot coffee. I sat up in anticipation as he put the mugs on the end table near the both of us. He settled down in the wingback chair, studying me intently.

"How do you take yours?"

"Black." the coffee revived me and warmed me right through. "You roused me easily in the car when we were in London. How the hell is it that I couldn't wake up here?"

"It was the shock, I think," Jim stretched out so he looked like a king on his throne, sitting ramrod straight. "you and I witnessed a shooting. I've seen loads of them so I'm used to it. This was your first time so there was some shock involved."

"As long as I don't react like that again."

"It's unlikely you would."

"Are there any other things you want me to do?"

Jim smirked as he put his mug down. "I think you have seen enough for now. You can do whatever you want."

"All right." I went over to the piano, lifted up the shelf from the keys and sat down. Jim didn't pay any attention as I pulled out a sheet music book, chose a random song and began to play it.

"Everything ain't nothing if I ain't got you," I sang an old Alicia Keys song.

It was interesting to watch Jim's reaction to my singing. He seemed to freeze up all of a sudden, then his eyes blinked rapidly. It was like he wanted to reassure himself that it was me singing. I glanced at him and it seemed his eyes had a new shining depth to them. It looked like affection for me.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Discovery

Jim was gone on one of his business trips and had been gone for almost 3 weeks. I decided to dust the mansion from top to bottom, armed myself with my vinegar and water spray bottle and almost a bale of cleaning rags. The first floor was dirty enough but the second floor, being much less adorned with knick knacks, was easy.

I put on my MP3 player and set my songs to play. Flicking a feather duster at the crevices in the painting, I sang out loud to the Rolling Stones as I went down the hall. Wetting a rag with the cleaning solution, I wiped down the dust on top and the sides of every doorframe. The rag turned dark brown then black.

"Oh, how gross!" the used rags could be left at the bottom of the stairs until I was ready to pick them all up and shove them into the washer later on.

In the medical room I swept and dusted the fixtures, the floor, sterilized the gurney, then as I was turning to leave I heard a rattling sound. A bottle had fallen to the floor. Stooping down, I picked it up and turned the label to the light.

The name of the drug I couldn't pronounce for the life of me but I could see one of the warnings quite clearly. "DO NOT USE IF YOU MAY BE PREGNANT." the drug had a category X marking on it and the word abortifacient.

Then it came to me. The extremely painful time of the month as I thought it was suddenly had a more sinister meaning to it. Indeed it was odd that I had such strong pains from what had been a routine event.

Pocketing the bottle, I needed to confront Jim about the medication when he got back. What was so wrong about telling me up front about what he'd found? Then again he'd never been straightforward about a lot of things, preferring me to find out on my own. Possibly the symptoms would have alerted me but I'd never had any.

Finishing off the dusting in that big house, I put my MP3 player on my mantelpiece, sat down in front of the fireplace on the lounger, then leaned forward.

OK, so Jim had slipped me an abortion pill when it became obvious to him that I didn't have any symptoms at all. Clearly he didn't want a hormonal hurricane residing in the same house as him. I could understand that, having once been forced to share a cabin one interminable summer with a whiny 17-year-old who was up the duff and bitched about everything. That had been at a summer camp when I was 16.

I snorted with a grin, remembering how I had freed myself a month early. Hormonal Henny as we called her, didn't make any friends at the camp. I had been very devious, formulating a plan to escape and calling on my pals to help me out. We had sneaked into my cabin where Henny was snoring loudly, tied her up, shoved a wad of socks in her mouth, then made a break for it.

We lived like nomads for the next month, staying within range of the camp so we could steal food, etc. Nobody was the wiser as to what we were really up to so that was the golden summer of my youth.

Back to the task at hand, I didn't think much about Jim and his lies that the drug was mislabeled or put in the wrong shipment. He knew what he was doing was wrong and yet I still couldn't care less. He had done me a favor in the long run, not that I would ever let him know about it.

My reaction to the drug made perfect sense now. My blood was thin and I bruised easily. Taking a drug that forced my monthly on me had caused too much blood loss way too fast. I had gone into shock, prompting Jim to call one of his medical pals to advise him on what to do.

Fortunately I had recovered relatively easily, bottom line. I wasn't inclined to dwell on it, just to tell Jim to inform me truthfully about what he was doping me with. Nothing more than that.

I heard the front door open up downstairs, footsteps muffled by the newly falling snow. It must have been Jim. Leisurely I went downstairs, taking the bale of dirty rags and shoving them down the laundry chute.

"Ruby!" a strained voice called out for me. It was Jim and something was definitely wrong. Hustling over to the front door, I found him kneeling down with the door slightly ajar, his head down as well. He groped for the handle and swung the door shut firmly.

"That's better." he said huskily, trying to stand up so he could walk, but ended up slumping over on his side.

"Jim? The hell?" I rushed over to see his face was all bloody. He gazed up at me through unfocused eyes, his face pale. Jim wasn't wearing a jacket or even proper snow boots. All I could see was blood and white skin.

"Hi, Ruby," he said in a hoarse whisper. "miss me?"

"Of course. Tell me what happened later on. I need to get you upstairs." Jim didn't say anything but allowed me to hoist him up, draping one arm over my shoulders. He closed his eyes multiple times but I forced him to keep his eyes open. Our progress was slow, but I got him into the medical room, cut his bloody t-shirt and sweater off, then told him to strip off his pants.

Jim looked like he was about ready to wisecrack with an innuendo, but thought better of it. He did as I said, putting on the hospital johnny with no protest. The pants, sweater, sneakers, etc, all went into the garbage. I flicked on the lights and drew up two trays of instruments and bandages.

"I forget-you're a dermatologist." he looked like he was going to say more but his strength was overtaxed so he let it alone.

"I went to med school, I am a doctor, and I was focusing on dermatology, yes." I said shortly, donning gloves and cleaning up the blood from the wound on the left side of his temple. He watched me as I put a bandage on that injury, bandaged the other superficial ones, then found a rather deep laceration that went diagonally from his collarbone up to his neck. It wasn't more than two inches long but it would need stitching.

Lidocaine always worked best for a local anesthetic. I gave him a good dose, took out a suture kit, then began to weave stitches.

"You're fast," Jim commented.

"Fastest in my class." I cut off the last suture thread. A wet to dry dressing would be optimal in his case so that was what I did. Skin wounds always healed better when the skin was slightly damp.

"What is that little papilloma under your eye?"

"I don't know. They beat me a lot and I lost track of how many injuries I had."

Smart ass. I injected more lidocaine, snipped off the papilloma very carefully, then put one little suture in. The skin under and around the eyes were not very forgiving so I had to be extremely accurate.

Inspecting his midsection and legs, I came upon a baseball sized lump on his outer left thigh. "How long have you had this?" it was loose and only encapsulated to the skin.

"Weeks. What is it?"

"Feels like a cyst. I can take that out now, no problem."

"If I wait?"

"It'll get infected and cause you lots of pain."

"Right then. Have a go." I was going to take it off no matter what but figured it was easier to at least try to get permission first. I arranged what I would need on a tray, gave him another local anesthetic, used a marker to mark off the boundaries of the cyst, then with my scalpel in hand, went in.

The cyst I had to dig for for a few minutes, then when I exteriorized it, I snipped it free. Thankfully it had come out in one piece so I didn't have to pop it. There wasn't anything really nasty in there-just sebaceous oil and dead skin. A few sutures in there and he was good to go.

"All set!" I announced.

"Already?"

"Yes indeed," I took out a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff to check his vitals. "It's a bit low for you. Are you hungry? I can whip something up."

"No thanks," Jim's hand found mine and he began to rub my fingers, making me glance at him questioningly. "I just want to get to my own bed."

"What time is it?" almost 9 at night! I'd been working on Jim for over two hours now. He watched me as I cleaned up the area, the pill bottle rattling a little bit in my pocket as I moved around. Mentally I dismissed the idea of confronting Jim as he'd been through enough that day. He did not offer any explanation of what he had been doing through his absence but I did not pry. Jim liked that about me, I thought.

"Be right back." I fetched his bathrobe and slippers from his room, then went back into the medical room. "All right, Jim. Up you go."

He was wobbly like a colt taking its first steps. I grasped his hands, steered him in the right direction, got his slippers on him, then draped his robe over his shoulders. Jim gripped my hand firmly, shuffling at first, but perking up as he reached the door.

Once he was settled in his bedroom, I went over to the blinds and shut them tightly as Jim called me to his side.

"I don't know what would have happened without you there." it seemed he had rehearsed those words.

I laughed. "You would have thought of something I'm sure, Jim." his hand again found mine, stroking it, tracing over the veins that didn't even stand out against my skin. I watched him at this odd task, a bit confused but writing it off anyway.

"Your skin is so perfect," he eyed my nails which had been painted a deep blue. "blue as in the dead of winter."

Here Jim did something that startled me. He ran his thumb over the back of my hand, brought it to his face, then kissed my knuckles like a gentleman at the Georgian court.

Saying nothing, I thought it was for shock value that he did that. Jim did so like to tease the bejabbers out of me! He watched me with a teasing smirk in his eyes that didn't reach his face. I was suspicious of that but then again Jim wasn't prone to open displays of emotion so I just went along with it.

Well, I may be a housemate of Jim's but I wasn't his captive or subordinate in any way, shape or form. Those dark brown eyes were beguiling when he was in a good mood. Jim raised his eyebrows slightly as if to ask me what I was going to do next. Now the smirk appeared, wrinkling the lines under his eyes and making the stitch go up and down.

I would show him! I was a woman and we had powers that men did not. Smirking, I leaned forward on his bed and met his lips with mine. When I drew back, Jim gave me a surprised look. He still had a hold of my hand which tightened up a little bit.

"What else can you do?"

"Erm-" I didn't want to ask him whether he wanted a full relationship or what was on his mind whatsoever. Not at that time anyway. It wasn't fair of me to put him on the spot.

Well shit! I flung my lips back onto his again and gave him the most passionate kiss that I didn't know I'd been capable of. Jim responded with just as much passion as I did, breaking his hold on my hand, framing my face with his hands.

"No," I spoke to his nonverbal question. "we'll talk tomorrow when you're well." Jim nodded and closed his eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Snow Day

The next morning around 9:30 I was still sleeping in my bed when I became faintly aware of someone brushing my hair back from my face. The person pulled the covers up around my shoulders then I became aware that it was Jim. He always wore some Ralph Lauren cologne that I was familiar with.

A pair of lips brushed themselves against my right ear. "You're so cute when you're sleeping."

"Am I even cuter when awake?" I asked sleepily, my eyes opening to half mast.

"Of course." Jim was dressed in everyday clothes, jeans and a t-shirt. He looked like he hadn't shaved but I didn't care about those things. Apart from the obvious bandage on his forehead he looked very good indeed. The stitches I had to put in were on his chest and outer thigh so they didn't show up at all.

"What are you doing in here? I don't have any makeup on."

"You don't need it," he told me. "why don't you come and have breakfast with me?"

"Oh, you want me to cook for you? Doesn't the chef get a day off?" I play whined.

"You cook because you're the best at it." Jim swatted at me, his gaze diverted from my eyes to my rather low cut nightgown.

"Like the boobage?"

"Very much."

"If you motorboat me you have to be clean shaven for that."

"Why is that?"

"Friction burns." he chose to leave it at that.

In the kitchen we both sat down to a hot breakfast and coffee. Jim was quite hungry and I was pleased to see that. He had been looking a bit gaunt when I first came into his life now he looked better, filling out more in his chest and shoulders. Jim was more well built now and he stayed dedicated to working out which only made him more endearing to me.

"So where you been?"

"I've been in the company of a corporation," he replied. "they beat me up pretty good, tried to torture me, but that ended up not working for them. It was worth it as I now have some leverage on Sherlock to finally bring him down."

"Really? I'd imagine you won't tell me."

Jim's eyes sparkled and I had to guess what that meant. "I have a big plan for Sherlock and he will be going down harder than I ever imagined."

"You're all keyed up. Did you even get to sleep last night?"

"I did. Now what did you want to talk about?"

"What exactly happened last night? Did you kiss me because you were delirious, happy to see me, or do you have some genuine romantic intentions?"

"Did you?" he inquired, taking another drink of his coffee.

"I have genuine romantic intentions to you, yes." I put that out blithely, not caring about his reaction but like any red blooded female, I cared a lot.

Jim almost choked, putting his mug down. "I didn't really expect that. You're as aloof as I am so I didn't think that you'd-"

"Have such emotions? I may look aloof but I'm still human, Jim. If you don't feel the same way then that's fine."

"I believe I do have the same feelings towards you. When I was held captive I thought of nothing but you." Jim's eyes darkened momentarily and I wondered what he was thinking about that he wasn't saying. And Sherlock I amended to myself. Jim was obsessed with him, Sherlock was inevitably part of his obsession. I would have to resign myself to that right at the start.

"What is your last name, Jim?"

"Moriarty." my eyes grew wider. "Something wrong?"

"I've heard of you, the criminal for hire. My ex boyfriend tried to get a hold of you."

"He did?"

"Yeah. I heard this through one of his friends. He tried to get in contact with you so that you would kill me so he could finally get rid of me."

"Lucky he didn't. I have people who screen my calls for me and I trust their judgment."

"Good for you."

"Very good for you," Jim leaned forward, his nose almost touching mine. "bad for him." I giggled. "I've never seen you smile before or heard you laugh."

"I never had occasion to. You've helped me a lot whether you realize it or not, Jim."

"In what way?"

"By just letting me be myself. I did a lot of soul searching, read some psychology books you have here, then realized I was too dependent on Tyrone for everything. When he beat me that night all I could do was flee. I didn't ever want to see him again and I thank God that I did. It led me to you."

"Indeed it did." we finished in the kitchen, Jim asked me what I wanted to do for the rest of the day. "I am at your disposal."

A glimmer of snow caught my eye near the kitchen window. That was what I wanted to do! "Let's go outside and have a snow day."

"A what?"

"Were you ever a kid, Jim? Let's go walk in the snow at least." I put on snow boots, fleece lined ski pants, a scarf, and a heavy overcoat. Fleece lined gloves and a warm hat completed my ensemble. Jim attired himself the same and we went outside.

"So what is it about Sherlock that has you so fascinated with him?"

"It's more of the fact that he solves crimes and always gets him right. Like he thinks he's a superhuman or something." we waded into the snow which was about a foot deep and had a crusty top. I knocked some snow off one of the cypress trees but it was caked on pretty well.

"You don't think he has his failures?"

"I think he does but they don't get any media attention."

"Even if he does fail the media won't do anything negative about him. They'll just gloss it over. Nothing in the media will portray him as a human, Jim. They are responsible for creating the myth that Sherlock is superhuman."

"Exactly so!" Jim put on his sunglasses against the brightness outside. "You have a knack for interpreting what the media does. I could use you in my future plans."

"Glad to be of service, Jim." we chattered and wound our way around the property. About halfway through our walk, Jim's hand found mine and I did not resist. I stooped and playfully winged a snowball at him, intentionally missing his shoulder. Jim gave me such an evil grin I stopped in my tracks! Talk about a Jekyll and Hyde personality.

All too soon we got cold and had to go in. Looking behind me, if it had been nicer outside I would have stayed out more. It was such a pretty scene, with the snow's whiteness contrasting with the brown and green of the cypress trees.

"Why don't you head upstairs and I'll get us some cocoa." Jim suggested as I took our outerwear and hung it up in the closet.

"Sounds good to me." he would meet me in my room. Shivering I struck a fire in the fireplace. Jim had to teach me how to do it properly as I'd never been able to make a good fire in my life! I huddled close to the fire, my hands outstretched to the flames. My skin was chapped and red from the cold so they began to warm up painfully. I swore colorfully.

"That's umbecoming language." Jim chided me as he came in with two mugs. He glanced down at my hands. "Never mind."

"Yes, never you mind." I had a cushion on the hearth so I could sit about six inches away from the fire screen. Gratefully I wrapped my fingers around the mug to enjoy the warmth.

"I have something for you," extending one chilled hand, I gave Jim the pill bottle I'd found yesterday. "first off I'm not mad." Jim sat down about three inches away from me on the hearth, one hand to the fire to warm up.

He twisted the bottle in his hand, glancing at the label. "Where did you find this?"

"I cleaned the medical room and this fell off the countertop."

"I see."

"Jim, I would have appreciated it more if you had just told me about my condition and told me you were giving me an abortion pill straightforward."

"I didn't know you would react the way that you did." his eyes appeared dark like he was remembering that day.

"Honestly I didn't know either which is why I need you to tell me in the future, OK?" I squeezed his wrist.

"You scared me when you reacted that way so I apologize." just as he was saying that the power cut out in the mansion, throwing us into darkness. Wintertime was a dark time of year so except for the fire, it was pitch black.

"Blizzard," Jim said unnecessarily. "what else are we going to do in the afternoon?"

"No idea. Let's get lunch first." I showed Jim what it was like to use a gas range cooktop in a power outage. I turned on the gas, used a match to get the pilot light lit, then got lunch going for us.

During the day it wasn't too bad. I spent at least two hours playing the piano and reading, Jim composed some plans for taking out Sherlock with some of my input, we cooked dinner, then around 9 PM Jim could not keep his eyes open so I suggested bedtime.

"Hang on," he grabbed my hand as I got up to stoke the fire. "I think we should sleep together for warmth."

"In here?"

"Yes. The fire and the fleece blankets are all that we really need." I blushed but Jim laughed it off. "Hopefully the power won't be off for long."

"I doubt it, Jim. We're in a pretty remote area and they'll be working on city lines before we get ours back."

"True. Come to bed now." Jim was already changed in his warmest pajamas. I shrugged, forgoing modesty and changed in front of him. He wolf whistled, told me I had a great ass, then I climbed into bed with him.

"Thanks, Jim. I like your ass too." he tugged me over to face him in bed. "Pity I don't have any rubbers. We could keep warm enough."

"Let's not worry about that right now," Jim relaxed back, hugging me to him like I was a teddy bear. I spread the fleece blanket over us as I snuggled back, cozy in the heat. The fire had been banked with a few more logs so it would last until tomorrow so we could hopefully stay comfortable.

Jim's arms were around my waist so I reached down my own hands and rubbed his. He chuckled as he spoke, "Liking this loving feeling, eh?"

"It's my girly weakness, Jim. I like sleeping with a guy. I find it comforting in some weird way." before my ex had been so violent I did enjoy very much cuddling up with him. Humans needed snuggle time like every other creature and I was going to savor this while I could.

I don't know when I fell asleep, all I know is that I woke up shivering. The fire in the fireplace had gone out and Jim wasn't beside me anymore. He was standing up near the fireplace, calmly striking a long handled match, igniting some newspaper, then tossing it into the fireplace. The cold must have awakened him too.

Jim got the fire going again, replacing the fire screen and coming back to bed. By now I was trying to relax but the shivering was uncontrollable.

"Ruby?" I didn't reply but turned to face him. I don't know how much of me he actually saw in the blackness but he could tell that I was definitely shivering. Not saying anything, my friend took me in his arms-the first time I could recall, then by holding me close shared his body heat with me.

"Thank you," I managed to say gratefully. Jim laughed and stroked my hair.

"Go to sleep, hon," he pulled up the fleece blanket again. "sleep now."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Valentine's Day

A/N: yes they are going to have sex in this chapter! You have been warned!

The next morning I woke up and discovered that the power had been turned back on while we were sleeping. I sat up, yawned, rubbed my eyes, still not surprised that Jim was gone from the bed or that the fire was still roaring in the fireplace.

Bright sunlight shone through the windows, attracting me like a moth to a light. The view from the window was blinding from the sun off of the snow. All evidence that we were outside yesterday had been erased from the snowfall overnight. It was so beautiful outside but I didn't want to go out in it. My mind was more inclined to think on thoughts of spring.

Jim came in just as I was tying my bathrobe sash. He was unkempt, still in his pajamas and robe as well. He bore a tray in his hands all loaded down with breakfast and strong coffee.

"Aren't you lost in the kitchen?" I teased as he put the tray on the small end table and pulled up an armchair, taking no notice of what he'd prepared but eating it without complaint.

"I can cook you know," he countered, drinking his coffee. "I've managed until you came in."

"Then you had the luxury of your own personal chef." I amended with a wide grin.

"Don't pat yourself on the back too hard," Jim shot back. "you're a long way from professional class."

"No but it's better than you." my suppertime creations were far more edible than anything Jim could cook up. He had tried to impress me with his culinary skills but wound up requiring my help. It happened more than once but I could turn his concoction around into something edible.

Jim's smirk didn't leave his face at all, making me wonder if he had screwed up in the kitchen on purpose to see if I could salvage his mistakes. "It's Valentine's Day."

"So it is. What have you got up your sleeve?" I took a sip of coffee while I watched Jim wink at me suggestively.

That smirk! "Well if I told you now it wouldn't be a surprise would it?"

"I should warn you that I'm not a person who really likes surprises. I've had too many bad ones." putting the fork down and draining my coffee mug, I covered the plate back up as the fire crackled and popped behind me.

"That won't happen today," Jim finished his breakfast. "now I've got to shower and clean up."

"Why don't you shower with me?" my old bold self was returning! "After all I want to contribute as well."

Those brown eyes of his lit right up! "You're improving."

"I'm starting to feel like my old self, Jim. My confidence is back." I retorted, standing up. It was empowering to know that my old nemesis would never come back to haunt me. My new friend had given me closure that the bane of my existence had no power over me any more. That was my true Valentine's Day present.

"Hang on a minute." Jim crossed the room to a portrait above my dresser, opened it up, then showed me an old pulley system with frayed rope. He put the tray into a wooden box, then pulled on the rope, sending the box down with its contents.

"A dumbwaiter!" I exclaimed. "Nice! This house doesn't look that old though."

"It's had several renovations but this is a nice convenience." Jim admitted, walking back to me and tugging at my sash. "What have you got on under there?"

"Nothing," my lips quirked upward. "I prefer to sleep naked."

"Dirty girl."

"You know it. Let's see if we can get ourselves clean." I led him into the bathroom, pulling his pants off. Jim tossed a box of Trojan condoms on the countertop as I got the water temperature just right.

"Always be prepared." Jim grabbed me, yanked my sash off, then let out a low whistle.

My body wasn't bad looking. I could fit into a size 8 easily and the puberty fairy bestowed upon me a nice pair of Ds. As shallow as it might seem, I was glad Jim approved of my body. I pulled off his boxers, stripped him of his robe, then did a similar whistle of approval. He was taller than me by about three inches, had a nice build, broad shoulders. There was some muscle definition in his abdomen and a faint outline of a six pack.

I went in first, Jim second. He washed his hair as I did mine, we did each other's backs, then he playfully smacked my ass. I retaliated by kissing him and gently biting down on his lips. His lips were thin as mine were plump so it made it a more rewarding experience.

"I got claws, honey," I struck a pose. "I hope you have a high pain threshold."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Jim hissed as he necked me a little bit, adding a little bite. I moaned with pleasure as I reached out and turned off the water. Wrapping him in a towel, he returned the gesture, then we stepped out. I combed down my hair and Jim, remembering my warning about stubble, chose to shave.

All bundled up in my towel, I imagined that item of clothing was pretty much the only thing I would be wearing that day. My bathrobe had gotten a little damp from the shower so I put it on the back of one of the armchairs. Jim thought the same way, for as I sat on the lounger, he tied his bathrobe back on, pounced on the lounger, then began to crawl towards me on all fours.

Biting back a giggle, I tossed the Trojan pack on the bed as Jim pulled off my towel, only tucking it in around my lower half. I struck a pose as if DaVinci himself was going to paint me. Jim chuckled, his eyes full of lust, traveling down to my ample cleavage.

"Save the best for last." he remarked as he lowered his head to my midriff and began to kiss his way back up to right inbetween my breasts. Jim did things with his tongue that I couldn't see but I was enjoying very much.

Now it was time to let out the vixen in me! I was aggressive most of the time but I didn't think that Jim would mind that much. Some of the guys I had dated were really off put by me being dominant. As Jim kissed his way up to my neck, he tongued my ears, then finally worked his way over to my mouth.

A few minutes of closed mouth kisses, I opened up my mouth, licking James's lips, asking for entry into his mouth which he giggled and obliged. When he released my mouth, I necked him back, putting a little bite into it which he seemed to enjoy. Mister Smooth Criminal himself submitted to me willingly as I did exactly the same thing to him that he did to me.

Through the towel, I could feel Jim's rather obvious hard on through the terrycloth. He paused, grinning at me, then proceeded to give me several rough dry humps through the cloth.

"That would feel better if you were really pumping me," I hinted coyly.

"Is that a hint?" Jim pulled my hands up, pinning them by my head and using his free hand to fondle my upper half. My boobs stuck right up under his caresses as Jim lowered down his head, teasing my perky nipples with his tongue.

"Get up and I'll show you how wild I can get," Jim decided to get off of me, allowing me to steer him over to the bed. I pushed him onto the bed as I let loose my wild energy, throwing passion into my foreplay. Sensing that the energy was off putting to Jim, I reigned it in a little bit as I covered his upper half with kisses and erotic caresses.

The tension was building up. Jim was starting to make thrusting motions with his pelvis and I could tell that he literally wanted in. I did a few pelvic gyrations which nearly had him coming too early. He grabbed the Trojan box, ripped open a condom, put it on with my help, then grabbed me by my wrists.

"Oh!" Jim gave me a rough kiss then threw me back on the bed. With an evil grin on his face, my criminal friend necked me roughly, adding more bite to it than I did. We engaged in more open mouth kissing, he sucked on my breasts for a few minutes each, then worked his way down.

"Lay back." Jim told me. I closed my eyes, slid down onto the bed with my pussy drooling in anticipation. The feel of Jim's finger down there made me even more horny as he played around; I bucked my hips up to let him know that I was ready for him.

"Eager aren't we?" Jim's wet hair flopped into his face, a little droplet splashing onto my forehead. "Well, hang on!" he pulled my legs apart, made sure his rubber was still in place, then entered me slowly. It took a minute for my vagina to accommodate Jim but it didn't take long at all. He grunted in pleasure, looming up over me as he grabbed my wrists, holding them up over my head.

Both of us began to move together, occasionally Jim's hand would tickle my clitoris. He definitely liked it when I moaned and groaned his name. Just the feeling of his shaft sliding in and outside of me got me about ninety percent to my orgasm. The remaining ten percent had to go to the clitoris which I regarded as my play button. Essentially it had the last say on the pumping stopped and the orgasm started.

It didn't take long! I cried out his name, falling back on the bed, exhausted. Jim reached his own orgasm and fell down next to me, taking off the rubber and tossing it into the trash can.

We were out of breath, huffing and puffing before we could say a word to each other. Jim and I were both covered in a fine sheen of sweat, trying to get our breath back, minds spinning with the sex we just had.

"You know I think this is another way you could work for me," Jim said thoughtfully, entwining one of my hands with his. "sex is a strength of yours."

"What do you mean?" I put one of my feet on Jim's thigh closest to me, running it up and down his leg tantalizing him.

"Some of my male clients are sexually promiscuous. They don't care about their wives, they just want a quick lay or a beautiful lady to look at. You could be a huge asset to my job."

"Sounds like fun. I know there's some risk involved."

"Don't worry about that. I'll see you covered. Most of them want to ogle and make out with you-the ones who want sex are a small like five percent."

"Like a femme fatale?"

"Exactly," Jim intoned, stroking my stomach and boobs. "your choice."

"I'll do it!"

"Excellent."

The rest of the day we had more sex and fooled around. My favorite was on the floor in front of the fireplace like in an alpine lodge. The heat from the fireplace and the twilight outside lent a somewhat eerie atmosphere but when Jim brought in lighted candles, the ambiance grew more romantic.

Jim had given me some candy and roses so I took out one of the chocolates, put it on my chest, let it melt a little bit, then let him lick it off of me. He sprinkled rose petals all over me, pushed me onto the big rug, then began to kiss me all over.

"Tomorrow we will start." he meant the femme fatale role for me.

"All right." lying down, Jim put his hand under my hair and brought it to my shoulder, letting it spill over my neck. He propped me up a little higher so my chest was up and he didn't have to lean over so much. I massaged his neck for him, eliciting a moan of pleasure.

"Trojan on, let's go!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Confidence Restored

The next day I woke up with a sweet soreness between my legs. The fire had gone out but I wasn't shivering cold. Remembering yesterday with a smile, I turned and found Jim still next to me, still sound asleep. It was about 5 AM, too early for either one of us to get up, so I spooned him, putting my warm hands on his hands. He grunted a little bit but did not move.

Let's see if I can give him some horny dreams, I thought. Carefully I began to neck him, making sure he would stay asleep. Tonguing his ear, he gave out a tiny moan as I gave his shoulders a brief rub.

Not saying anything, I gave him a kiss on the cheek as sleep caught back up with me.

Lips surrounded mine, I aroused as I sensed Jim kissing me deeply, then I reached up for his neck, held it in my hand, then kept my eyes closed as Jim finally released me. Opening up my eyes, he was less than an inch from my face with a grin from ear to ear. Jim had mounted me, I found his morning's hard wood poking me.

"Morning, lover." he began to neck me. "It's past 8."

"Is it?"

"Yes. I have a full day planned for you to begin your training."

"Great. I feel so liberated now," Jim pulled the sheets off of me and began to kiss my breasts again and my stomach. "I'm ready to take my life back, Jim."

"I wondered how long it would take for you to realize that." he murmured between kisses. He had my torso in a hug as my boobs seemed to fascinate him. I shrugged it off-he was a man after all!

"You mean especially since you showed me my ex getting shot and killed?"

"Basically yes."

"It took awhile I grant you that. Only yesterday it really sank in."

"Good. I thought it was odd that you weren't mad that I slipped you the abortion pill."

I slipped my hands into his luxurious hair, admiring the fact that my hands completely disappeared into it. "Well I wasn't sure of my own reaction at the time. I was happy to be rid of it, then I felt ashamed he'd even gotten me pregnant. It was a mixture of emotions and I didn't let myself feel any of them. It's a way to protect myself."

"That wall if you will, can do a lot to protect yourself when you're ready for field work."

"I can do that." stretching out, I let Jim do whatever he wanted to me.

"I like the new you."

"Thanks, hon. Just remember we keep the romance and stuff behind closed doors. Don't be bragging about me to your pals."

Jim grunted acknowledgement, too preoccupied with my body to do anything else. He moved up, pillowed my head on his arm, then gave me one of the deepest kisses of my life.

The rest of February, March, and April passed in a blur of training. Jim had me trained in the art of seduction by a lady of the night or hooker for several weeks. She had me doing things I had never heard of, showing me some bizarre sexual fetishes that just grossed me out.

My favorite part was the erotic dancing I was taught. Being pretty trim and flexible, I enjoyed the pole dancing part of my femme fatale training. Jim came in at one point as I hoisted myself onto the pole, hung upside down, then mimed grinding on the pole. Swear to God that my lover almost came in his pants! We fooled around on the pole after my trainer left, Jim impressed by my flexibility and flirtatiousness.

Another part of the training by the hooker was teaching me how to disguise myself. She taught me how to create personas and how to choose which one would be the correct one for the job at hand.

My second part of training was firearms. One of Jim's snipers came in to tutor me on weapons of all kinds, training me to utilize whatever was available as a weapon. It was pretty average training like an army man would get. The illusion of James Bond type weapons evaporated pretty quickly!

Finally at the end of April, Jim knocked at my door and entered. I was taking my makeup off from the latest training session.

"Good news. I think you're ready," he drawled over my shoulder as I removed the eye makeup. "better start packing up."

"Do we need to go into London now?"

"To put our plan in motion yes. We need to move to the townhouse I have so we can be close to the action." Jim rubbed a smear of eyeliner off of my face. "I have a gift for you."

"Oh, what?" he presented me with a box which I opened, revealing a glistening black handgun. "Oh, a Ruger!" they were excellent at close range. Jim had also given me a hip holster which could be worn under any type of dress or clothing.

"It'll get the job done," my lover put his hand on my thigh. "what are you wearing under that robe?"

"Keep moving your hand and you'll find out," I chuckled. Now the weather was warmer and the snow had melted, I had taken to wearing a thin silk screened robe which was patterned with flowers. Jim gave me a devilish grin as he moved his hand up my thigh, my pelvis, my belly, then to my breasts. "see?"

"Nothing on! Well then, I think I have to take advantage." Grinning, I untied the sash and sat there in my glory, leaving all but my arms naked. Jim went straight for my chest like usual. He picked me up, brought me into the bathroom, turned on the tub, and got the water to a comfortable temperature.

"Let's make our last night here memorable," he breathed into my ear. Jim pulled off my robe, I undressed him, he joined me in the tub, there we made out until the water came up to mid chest level on me. I put my legs in his lap, relaxing as he pushed my head back until it rested on a towel roll. He began to kiss me from my temples, cheek, neck, etc, until he reached my chest. Jim's eyes darted to mine then began to massage my chest until I started moaning. Another devilish grin permeated his face. We couldn't properly have sex in the tub with a rubber on-it would come off, resulting in me getting pregnant, so I grabbed Jim's dick, giving him a hand job. While we necked and made out with each other, Jim spread my legs and inserted a few fingers up inside me.

"Pelvic exam," he joked.

After we had our tub fun, Jim and I boxed up our belongings and put them in the front hall for the movers. Jim didn't have a car at the hall but he said someone would be picking them up at 10 AM the next morning.

I was excited to get back to London but also sad that my time at Aster Hall would be coming to an end. Maybe at a later date we could vacation there.

The night passed uneventfully, both of us forgoing sex because we needed our rest to commence moving the next day. That morning Jim and I dressed in business casual clothing-he in a green suit and I in a white button up shirt, red knee length skirt and red pumps. I put on minimal makeup, picked up my purse, then joined Jim in the front hall of the house. The movers had already moved our stuff out of the house, making our footsteps echo weirdly.

"I hope we come back."

"We will," was all Jim said, preoccupied with something on his mind. A sleek black nondescript car pulled up to the cul-de-sac to the front door. "on, my lady!" he steered me to the car, opened up the door and ushered me in.

With Jim in beside me, I jokingly asked if he needed to put me to sleep again after our last foray into London. Jim replied that I wasn't a roommate or prisoner, I was his bona fide partner now, eligible for his trust and confidence.

"I won't let you down," I promised.

Jim's chuckling was genuine. "I'll be there for you the first time we meet with someone. I want to see how you shaped up with the training."

"You sat in on my training sessions," I reminded him. "the hooker, Candy, and the sniper Toby were pretty thorough."

"Training is training but now we go out into the field." was all Jim had to say.

I understood and said no more. As if he was reading my sudden apprehension, he trailed his fingers over mine and squeezed my hand. He had the utmost confidence in me and knew I could do it. I knew I could do it and I would.

That afternoon we arrived in London at the townhouse. It was quaint, much smaller than Aster Hall, but cozy. The outside was covered in split shingles pained dark brown, a white front porch that had seen better days, and two stories. Inside the kitchen was on the left, living room on the right, and a staircase. There were two bedrooms with the bathroom inbetween, though one bedroom had been converted into an office.

"We share a bed now, eh?" I joked as I put my things away in the dresser. Jim drew the curtains shut with a snap. Instead of the four poster I was used to, the king size bed was on just a regular bed frame with a maple headboard stained in a light color. My partner(I never thought I'd be able to call him that), unpacked his suits, hung them up, then helped me with the dresses.

Jim laughed at my joke and snapped his teeth like a dog, pretending to take a bite out of me. We both went downstairs into the cozy kitchen which was very modern, and began to make up a grocery list.

"Nobody to do this for us anymore," it had been quite the luxury at the hall to have some unknown person do the grocery runs for us. "there's a Tesco nearby so I can do that.

"Before you go, take a look in the garage," there was a tiny garage, built like it was an afterthought to the contractor. I opened up the garage door, flicked on the light, and there was a beautiful Honda Accord sitting primly, surprising me. It wasn't brand new, but I understood it would be a good car to use.

"Oh, Jim!"

"You're welcome!" he called.

The Accord was a manual shifter so after a little practice (I used to drive a manual Cosworth), I remembered how to shift smoothly then managed to get out of the driveway with no harm done. Shopping was painless and easy, I used the credit card that Jim had given me before I left, then went back home.

Unpacking the groceries, Jim came up from behind me and got me into a hug, kissing my neck suggestively. "Missed me, eh?" I giggled as I folded up the canvas bag to put away. Jim removed it from my hand and tucked it into a cabinet. He fingered the French braid my hair was in then pulled the elastic off, making my hair fall down to my shoulders.

"Of course I missed you," Jim put his hands on my hips. "nobody knows I'm in town now; they all think I'm supposed to be in tomorrow so we can have a little fun."

"What kind of fun do you have in mind?" I relaxed the back of my head on his shoulder, allowing him to give my hair a sniff. Jim reached forward to unbutton my shirt as I reached behind him to smack his butt playfully.

With all the groceries put away, Jim kissed my neck and undid the last button on my shirt as I turned to face him, undoing his buttons at lightning speed. I pulled on his pant button, giving him my most seductive expression and he melted.

"Bedroom now!" I could not keep up with him!

Christening the new bed, Jim enjoyed a few of the moves that Candy the hooker taught me, did a few new positions, then afterwards, Jim and I lay beside each other, both breathing hard. It was twilight now; we missed supper but neither one of us were hungry enough to cook.

"So what are you up to tomorrow?"

"I have to go and see someone to get a business deal closed," I could tell by his tone that I was not allowed to ask about any kind of business deal that Jim had. He had told me once that I was better off kept in the dark on those things. Fine by me!

"I see."

"You're coming with me as my assistant."

"Did you pick out a persona for me to do?"

"I want you to be Desiree." Desiree was an airhead. Jim had modeled her on the stereotypical dumb blonde with just enough brains to be taken seriously on the job. I had to wear a miniskirt, pumps, all that. Of course a blonde wig had to be worn too!

We had a little snack, discussed some of Desiree's personality traits, and the subject must have bored us tremendously because we fell asleep.

Just kidding. We had a little makeout session then went to bed at 9.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Magnussen

"Come on, I want to see how you look!"

I put the eyeliner down with a little rattle, nearly knocking it down off the counter. The townhouse had an official makeup table in the bedroom so I didn't have to stand and lean forward into a bathroom mirror.

"OK, Jim," I sang out. "what do you think?"

"Wow!" the blonde wig carried it off perfectly. It was pulled back at the sides so it wouldn't be in my face, I wore a heavy rhinestone necklace with matching stud earrings, the chest exposing shirt and green miniskirt. I didn't have green heels to wear so I opted for nude.

The makeup was a little over the top but Desiree tended to be more over the top in general, I'd applied a heavy winged eyeliner, green eyeshadow, and my face was contoured a shade too much. I had a small purse which contained my lipstick, the brightest shade of red I could find.

"That shade is almost obnoxious," Jim remarked. I did a little spin for him, loaded the purse with all the makeup I had used, then grabbed a clipboard with looseleaf paper and a medium sized appointment book. To make it look more official I wrote in made up birthdays, emphasized holidays, etc.

"Isn't it?" Jim reached over to my left ear and attached a Bluetooth wireless clip to my ear. He showed me a new cell phone which was in bright purple. Desiree had an obnoxious pink cell phone with made up contacts, only the one labeled JIM was real.

"Now we go over to the office building." Jim offered his arm, then we walked out of the house. "Hop in." he opened up the garage door, revealing my Accord. I passed him the key, he got into the driver's side and turned on the car.

"You drive stick?"

"I do," Jim shifted the car into first gear. "any doubts?"

"Oh no." we made it to the Magnussen Industries building without any problems as Jim gave me a rundown on the guy. It turned out he owned an empire of software developing, Internet cybersecurity, and other technology industries.

"He's turning into the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates," I remarked as we parked and got out of the car. "flashy."

Jim locked the car as I grabbed my assistant paraphernalia, walking with him to the doors. He jabbed the button for the elevator and we waited. When we got to ground level, we followed the signs for Magnussen's office. His secretary buzzed us into his personal elevator.

"Jim," Magnussen was a taller than Jim and wearing a dark red suit. Jim wore a black suit. The opposites were pretty obvious. Jim had the air of someone who was cold, calculating, with a sense of mania behind the eyes. Magnussen was clean shaven, Jim favored his stubble, etc. Magnussen had the calculating and not omniscient look, but an air of smug superiority.

"Charles," they shook hands. "this is my assistant, Desiree." I gave Magnussen a ditzy look.

"Hi, howareya?" I altered my voice to be a little higher and fast talking. He met my hand, gave me an icy blue stare, then kissed the back of my hand like a Victorian gentleman. I did a high pitched giggle. "Oh, I hope I meetyouagain!"

"Likewise," Magnussen told me. "shall we get started, Jim?" I made to stand up, but Magnussen stopped me. "Just us men, darling. You can wait here." the way he looked at me made me want to kick him in the shins but I gave him an empty smile, glancing over at Jim.

"Desiree, hold my calls. I'm not to be disturbed. Understood?"

"Sure thing, boss!" I squeaked.

The meeting was relatively short as I understood that Jim was in criminal mode and snapped off monosyllabic answers. Magnussen tried to undercut him verbally by making personal asides about me. The Bluetooth earpiece Jim had given me went off, I clicked it on, and I could hear the conversation.

"So, Miss Desiree, where is she from?"

"She's from Scarborough."

"She seems nice, just ditzy."

"She does an adequate job."

"You're rather tight lipped, Mr. Moriarty. Might I-"

"No. Mr. Magnussen, you're making this personal. I came here to close a deal and you haven't even broached the subject yet."

"Of course," I heard pages being turned and negotiations were coming through the earpiece. It took several minutes but they reached some sort of deal. I couldn't tell whether Jim was pleased or not, but Magnussen never let on how he felt either.

The meeting concluded, I stood up to meet Jim and Magnussen as they came back into the waiting room. From experience I could tell Jim was tight lipped and that didn't mean anything good. Magnussen didn't betray any emotion other than the fact he made a rather pointed gaze at my open shirt.

"Oh, like what you see, huh?" I made my boobs jiggle a bit, letting out another high pitched giggle.

Magnussen gave me a fake smile as Jim bade him an icy goodbye and shepherded me out the door.

"Well, I think that was a waste of time," he banged the button for the ground floor.

I waited until we were in the car and leaving the parking garage before I spoke. "So it was a bust?"

"Oh yes!" Jim growled. "It was nothing but 20 minutes of verbal backstabbing! That man is just infuriating! He talked about you for the first five minutes, asking where you come from and how good he thought you would be in inappropriate ways!"

"I thought it was a business meeting, not ogle your assistant how good is she in bed type thing."

"Exactly!"

"Take a left here," I interrupted, making Jim pass by a little restaurant. "let's have lunch; I'm treating you, hon."

Jim looked a bit skeptical but allowed me to take his arm as we went in, were seated, and submitted our orders. We chattered the whole time with Jim asking me a few random questions.

"So if I was put in a difficult situation and needed to fake my own death, how would I do that?"

"Well, you can shoot yourself in any number of areas and have it look fatal, but it wouldn't be."

"I was thinking the head," Jim demonstrated the trajectory he was talking about. "how about that?"

"Even if you'd survived you'd be blind, deaf and dumb," I bluntly told him. "better luck someplace else."

"Like where?" Jim took a drink of wine.

"All doctors know that a gunshot wound to the abdomen is the slowest and most painful way to die. I've had to treat some during ER tenure. Those that get the most care and attention as soon as possible after the shot have the best chance of survival. Or if you're looking to fake it, try shooting a few millimeters to the left or right of the major blood vessel, the abdominal aorta."

"There's an idea. I wouldn't pass out or anything on the first impact?"

"I doubt it. Usually it takes a couple of minutes. You can inject yourself with sedatives that have a delayed reaction of say about five minutes so you say your piece, pretend to shoot yourself, then 'die'."

"Good idea," Jim's angry face disappeared as he smiled a bit. "so what do you think of all this?"

"If you tried this you'd need medical intervention as soon as possible, Jim. It all depends on where you're getting treated."

"I'll have one of my boys take me from the scene of the crime and get a medical room ready for you. Do you think I'll need surgery?"

"Impossible to tell until I see your injury. More than likely it's a stitch job." the place was starting to fill up now as our orders arrived. Jim chose a Ruben sandwich, I opted for salmon with green beans.

The rest of the day Jim had meetings in his own business, for lack of better words. I dropped him off at one of his meeting places where his own car would chauffeur him back to the townhouse.

I parked the Accord in the garage, backing in like an expert, then turned off the car. Once inside I hurriedly got rid of all traces of Desiree and stowed her gear in the spare closet. The office was cluttered with Jim's correspondence which I thought of organizing for him, but thought it would be better to get permission first. There was such a thing as an organized mess and it occurred to me that he was the type of person that subscribed to that system.

Instead I put some potted plants out on the rickety little porch. Geraniums would fare the best as they were tough flowers.

Having been without a TV from November to April, I had forgotten all about TV until I saw one in the living room. With nothing else to do, I sat down and flicked it on, staring blankly at the screen for a few hours. Reality TV had really gone downhill ever since its inception, and I had to laugh at the ridiculousness that was on the TV.

Four PM came, I prepared Jim's favorite of my dishes, meatloaf, and slid it into the oven. Unfortunately this one was an electrical range which meant I had to really had to watch the heat in case it overcooked. Jim loved my meatloaf especially with provolone cheese baked on top which was exactly what I did.

Sure enough, when he came in an hour later, I was just taking my masterpiece out of the oven to cool. Jim took a big sniff of the air, threw his arms wide and bawled out, "I love meatloaf!"

I laughed as I plunked it down on the range. "Let it cool a bit and we can eat."

"So plans for tomorrow are under way," he mentioned casually. "you and me at the tower."

"The Tower of London with the ravens?"

"The one and only. I have all I need to pull off a heist."

"Are you going to implicate me?"

"No, you're going to be a witness of whom I will need to knock out."

"The sleeping spray again?"

"Yes indeed." the meatloaf had cooled down enough so I cut him a generous portion and he doled himself out the sides-peas and mashed potatoes.

"I was getting bored-wait, that's Desiree speaking, not me. What character do I need to be?"

"Any one of them you want."

Later on I was lying on the bed with a book in my hands, not realizing I had dozed off until Jim touched my calf muscle. I jumped awake, mumbling something, becoming aware that Jim was smirking at me.

"You were asleep for thirty minutes. Getting more tired?"

"Must be," I brushed my hair out of my eyes and got into bed. "so how long will you be in prison after robbing the crown jewels?"

"I never said I was going to rob them. Just break in. I'll be back here in less than 24 hours."

"What have you got up your sleeve?"

"Good old blackmail," Jim brought up his laptop and showed me what he meant. "it's a simple hack to put these in the jury's hotel rooms."

"Well, vote not guilty unless you want your families to get hurt," I smiled wickedly, prompting him to return it. "well thought out, Mr. Smooth Criminal."

"I like that nickname. I have been calling you Vixen in my mind ever since we first had sex." he admitted.

"Keep calling me that." he put away the laptop, got into bed and snuggled up with me as I turned out the light.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Jim Gets Arrested

Just after lunchtime the next day, Jim attired himself in casual clothes; a white V neck t-shirt, jeans, sneakers with a tan button up shirt that was left unbuttoned. I chose a similar style; black jeans, black sneakers, a white and red striped shirt with simple hoop earrings in gold.

"Hey there, sexy man," I purred as he came downstairs. "are you ready for some fun?"

Winking devilishly he handed me my car keys. "You drive."

"Don't turn into a backseat driver," I warned him as I pressed the garage door open button. "I'll throw you out."

Parking at the tower was a bit crazy but fortunately I could squeeze the Accord into the parking spot that was left. A guy in a pickup truck honked, Jim flipped him off, but I could see the pickup truck driver was an old fart who wasn't going to make any trouble for us.

Once we got through the security checkpoints, Jim gave me a look that told me we had to act like we didn't know each other. I nodded, making sure I was several people behind him as we went into the tower to the crown jewels section. Both of us were passed through the metal detectors as I put my key and cell phone on the desk, went through without a problem and reclaimed my items.

Jim was chewing gum though not loud and obnoxiously like some people. He had added a London hat from one of the vendor's stands outside and I personally thought he looked ridiculous.

I passed to the other side of the crown jewels display case so I was facing the back of the chair. Jim put his earbuds in and hit a few buttons on his phone. He rolled his neck lazily with his eyes shut. My phone buzzed so I checked the text messages.

The one from Jim said hey good lookin', time to go on that date. JM.

My signal which we had agreed on earlier, was to raise my eyebrow about half an inch upwards then I started to slowly circle back towards him.

Right on cue the alarms started to go off. The place emptied out very fast but I was in no hurry. I had earbuds in too but they weren't connected to anything. A guard tried to hustle Jim out but he had a spray can of the sleep juice and gave the guy a quick blast.

Next was my turn. I seized Jim by the arm, trying to act like a good visitor, but he gave me the tiniest of winks and apologetic look as he doused me with the sleep spray as well. Being a gentleman he caught me and lowered me down to the floor so I didn't hurt myself.

"Hey lady!" some guy's voice roused me, shaking my shoulders roughly. "You OK?"

It was one of the gentleman warders or Beefeaters as they were known. My vision was on fire with the scarlet red uniform and I got up with his help.

"I'm OK," I wobbled a bit then regained my footing. "what happened?"

"Some guy tried to rob the crown jewels!" somebody mute that guy! His volume was far too loud for me. The sleep spray left me with a mild headache and the warder wasn't helping me any. I politely went back up to the street corner where everyone was abuzz, getting press interviews and the like.

Since I didn't want any press or my face in magazines, I hustled over to the parking lot, found the Accord, then left.

It was too lonely without Jim in the townhouse. Somehow he had sent me a text message, asking me to bring him his gray suit for his trial. I resolved to get to the courthouse early to drop it off and get a good seat where we could see each other.

Upon choosing my outfit for Jim's trial day, I found a plaid skirt, white shirt, and a blue cardigan. A label had been draped on the hanger which read KITTY RILEY, PRESS REPORTER.

A persona he had made up for me. It would be very useful to have a press alias because you never knew. Jim had pulled off a sophisticated string of cyber crimes and compounding it with attempted theft, so of course it got a lot of publicity.

I got into the bizarre outfit-it wasn't professional enough for a reporter but I guessed it was some fan of Sherlock's who wanted to be provocative. Surely enough, a little background had been written in Jim's sloppy handwriting and left on the kitchen table.

"Kitty Riley, aged 28, a big fan of Sherlock's, tries to get his attention with the superficial means-low cut shirts and short skirts, etc. She's struggling to get out the piece which could make her career."

Sounded logical enough. I guessed Jim thought she was like a quasi-schoolgirl with the braids look, so I put my hair in pigtail braids. My press purse was full, my phone and my recorder, I grabbed Jim's suit and left.

At the courthouse, I went through security with no problems, then was led to Jim in his cell. Looking delighted to see me, he took his suit, giving me a playful glance. "What do you think to fucking in here?" he whispered.

"No way. Doing all right in here?"

"Of course. Sherlock just went into the loo, you can ambush him and play the infatuated fan card."

I pulled a disgusted face, sticking my tongue out at him as I reluctantly did what Jim asked me to do. It went exactly like I thought, Sherlock's cold rebuffing of me as I pretended to be all starry eyed. Boldly I had offered him a chance at an interview but he turned me down, scoffing at the media in general, finishing up with three words.

You. Repulse. Me.

Back at you, weirdo. He was taller than Jim with cold blue eyes, but I didn't let that intimidate me at all.

Choosing my seat near Dr. Watson, I watched as Jim stood at attention and Sherlock took the witness stand. He gave off a soliloquy on Jim, calling him names, making Jim feign a blush and look flattered at the same time. He was just hamming it up as he glanced into the courtroom, getting a quick scan of the occupants. His eye lingered on me, I gave the affirmative signal, he inclined his head ever so slightly.

Fortunately Sherlock was giving out another spiel which had no relation to Jim whatsoever. He was rapidly dissecting the jury box which caused the judge to fine him in contempt. Jim was hauled back to the clink along with Sherlock where they both would be incarcerated overnight.

But I was not to remain idle. Jim wanted me to shake down a business client of his, a Mr. Harold Masters, for payment on services rendered. Jim's note told me that Masters was a sly elder man who got super horny and would probably settle for a hand job. I was to meet him at a dance club called Aces.

This was a job for Vicky Renegade, my stripper persona. The beauty of her was that I had to put several cans of spray color into my hair and not bother with a wig. The jewelry was moderate, a flashy rhinestone necklace, rhinestone studs in my ears. My dress was in two parts: I put on a zebra printed bra and underpants, then a sheer fishnet fabric that was tied around my waist like a sarong. The fishnet was black with a touch of silver running through it so it glittered in the light.

My shoes were silver colored, styled a bit like Mary Janes with a strap around the ankle so I wouldn't accidentally fling one into the room.

With the smoky eye makeup and appropriate contouring, I pronounced myself fit and ready to work. Snapping a picture of myself in a full length mirror I sent it to Jim's phone.

"Here we go!" I locked up the house, tying the sash of a trench coat around my waist.

When I arrived at Aces there was a party in full swing. Masters hadn't arrived yet; I'd memorized his picture. So I hung up my trench coat, was boosted up to one of the stripper platforms, and to the tune of Def Leppard's famous Pour Some Sugar On Me, I did an erotic dance.

It wasn't before long that Masters showed up. I had been grinding and gyrating on a pole, dancing with my vagina as Candy had so eloquently put it. Masters chose a seat by the wall, motioning for me to come over. I obliged, sauntering over amid the cheers of the people.

"You Vicky?" he was a tubby guy with some height on him. About 6'3'' if I wasn't mistaken. Masters had a furry black beard streaked with gray.

"That's right, Mr. Masters." I smiled at him as I shook my shoulders, making my cleavage bounce and jiggle.

"I come here on the word of Jim Moriarty. You know him?"

"He's a client of mine. He said something about paying?"

"Yeah. I'm supposed to collect. Said it would keep his tab here up to date," I laughed playfully. "have you got it?"

"One lap dance and you'll get the money," he ogled my ass as I stuck it in his face, making circles in the air. "deal?"

"Deal." I threw all my energy into a lap dance to the beat of the Pussycat Dolls' song Buttons. When I was done, Masters looked visibly happier than when he came in. I then noticed he was wiping his hands on a tissue.

"I guess I did a good job then," my lips near his ear, Masters flinched for a second, then reached into his suit jacket, pulled out an envelope, handing it to me. I counted the fat mound of cash which totaled his payment; nine thousand dollars. "very nice."

"Vicky, you do wonders," Masters stood up as I put the envelope into my bra. "are you here often?"

"Not a lot. I divide my time between this and two other jobs."

"Why do you strip?" I walked him to the door.

"Because every girl needs to feel sexy sometimes. We have to let our sexy sides out once and awhile so to speak." I saw him out, thanked him for the payment, danced for a few more songs, then I left the club.

That night I went into the house and pulled off the Vicky Renegade persona. Caught up in the hooker mindset for the moment I began to sing the Def Leppard song while washing my hair, taking the makeup off, then hanging up the hooker outfit. I knew Jim wouldn't get his phone back until tomorrow so I did not expect a reply.

Sleep came very easily that night as I had tired myself out thoroughly beforehand. Getting up in the morning was hard because I did not like to leave my bed. Forcing myself, I got ready for the day, wearing jeans, black boots, a pink t-shirt and darker pink button up shirt left unbuttoned. Light makeup followed including a blue pink lipstick, and I left for the trial verdict.

Jim assumed his position in the courtroom, finding me seated at the same place I had been before. He was still chewing gum which seemed to have turned into a habit but it didn't bother me. He may have learned it from me as I was fond of chewing on bubble gum from time to time. My lover boy could not blow bubbles like me; he could only chew.

"Not guilty." read the verdict. John Watson's jaw dropped open as did many people's. Mine did but that was more to mirror other people's reactions. Jim's blackmail technique had worked beautifully.

With a not guilty verdict, there was no point in holding him. Hiding my face, I drove the Accord around to pick him up, he got into my car, then we drove away from all the press hoopla.

"Have fun with Sherlock yesterday?" Jim turned on his phone.

"You're right in calling him the virgin, Jim. He radiates this Arctic cold all around him. I think my tits froze." Jim laughed.

"I'll have to check on that. What's this picture you sent me?"

"Look at it."

"Oh my-wow!" Jim saw me in my stripper outfit. "Vicky Renegade?"

"Oh yes. Masters was easy. I gave him a lap dance, he gave me the money."

"Nine grand?"

"Yes indeed."

"Well done! Darling, can you make a stop at Baker Street? I have to visit Sherlock for a moment."

"Really?"

"He's invited me for tea." we pulled up at Baker Street.

"Speedy's, eh? I'll see what they've got." I waited until after Jim went into the flat then went into the cafe. They had a surprisingly good bakery so I ordered a small cheese danish with an espresso, taking a seat near the front window.

It took less than 30 minutes for Jim to come downstairs. I didn't ask anything as he would tell me in time. The air of smugness and superiority was very thick in Jim's face as we drove home.

"Now, I missed my Ruby and her little outing," right as I shut the door Jim turned to me, pulling me close and necking me powerfully. "I'm glad you made out all right."

"Me too. You were worried, eh?"

"I had a few moments," he admitted, pulling up my shirt. "but I knew you'd be fine. All that training we gave you would have worked."

"I'm glad I had it. I missed you too, hon," taking off his suit jacket, I pulled up his shirt, undid the buttons, then necked every inch of him. "I slept well due to all the dancing."

"I can imagine," Jim's eyes caught the newspaper I hadn't even looked at. "what's that?" he flipped it open to the local section. There was a color photograph of me on one of the side panels. From the looks of it I was still doing the dance to the Def Leppard song as I had the pole between my legs with one leg sticking straight out and my back arched backwards.

"Last night's escapades." I offered with a grin. Jim's expression dimmed and he looked mad for some reason. Jim didn't often have hissy fits so I surmised that he missed my debut on the pole dancing floor.

Taking off my shirts and leaving on my pink and white bra, I took my pants off, my boots came off, then I sat on the couch with Jim who wasn't even looking at me. Edging closer, I got into his lap, bending backwards so he saw my bare stomach.

"Care for a lap dance, mister?"

He glanced at me like he wanted to ask what I was thinking. Jim had been randy when we first got home and he needed to know now that I was sexually available to only him. Distraction was the best tactic I could think of to prevent him from sulking. I took the envelope with the cash in it, tucked it into my bra, then stood up, leaning over Jim so my boobs hung in his face with the cash.

"Dance." my lover told me, taking the money laden envelope. I mounted him, each leg on one side of his thighs, leaned back, then hooked my hands behind his neck. I swung to the right, leaned back up, then took one of his hands, dragging it down the center of my cleavage.

I really outdid myself on the lap dance for Jim. Masters got the tame version but with Jim, I was wild thing. I touched myself so erotically that I got horny, imagining naughty things only Jim could do to me. Remembering our sex escapades back in Aster Hall, I touched myself, moaning Jim's name.

"That's enough!" Jim told me, picking me up altogether. "I'm going to explode if I don't have you now!"

I had to laugh!


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Strep Infection

That spring and summer I had a lot of fun with Jim as he began using me to collect his debts to clients who failed to pony up Jim's fees at the time of "services rendered", so I had been put on the job.

Jim hadn't been lying when he said that the people who owed him money were all over Europe! I had to go to Spain, Italy, France, Germany in order to hunt down the clients. Some of them had changed their names and personal info, but that didn't stop me or Jim from finding out their true names.

Once we had our information all set, Jim would give me everything relevant including which persona he wanted me to bring to life on that particular job. He gave me his company credit card, told me to spare no expense, and off I went.

One of the guys tried to kidnap me, but I slipped a little something into his tea before we got started on business. I left him facedown at his kitchen table, broke into his safe, took the money Jim was owed, then was out the door. I had to give many lap dances, hand jobs, etc, but in the end I always got the money.

"Oh, Jim," I sang out as I came into the house. "where is my hunk?"

Jim appeared looking haggard and sniffling. "Got a cold, babe?" setting down my suitcase I turned to him as he blew his nose.

"No, it's my summer allergies," he winced at the light outside and sneezed into his elbow. "damn pollen. Even in the city it gets thick in the air."

"Aw, hayfever's no fun." I said sympathetically. "does your throat hurt too?"

"A bit."

"Let me go make you some tea."

"Thanks, babe." he gave me a pat on the shoulder. When I reappeared with the tea, I set the tray down, then produced a very full envelope from my purse.

"All of your back clients have paid up, Jim. There's fifty thousand dollars in there."

"They didn't give you any trouble?" Jim took the envelope and counted up the bills. Satisfied, he put it in the safe under the downstairs desk.

"Oh, no!" I giggled. "You know how hard it is for a man to think when his brain doesn't have any blood in it. Especially me pretending to go down on him."

Turning red for a brief moment, Jim reached for one of my hands and began to fondle it sensually. He'd just been putting up the latest in Kitty Riley's faux news articles which gave the dirt on Sherlock. I didn't care in the least; Sherlock was human, he had dirty laundry like the rest of us. Jim had told me when he was locked up with Mycroft, the latter had given him all the dirt on his brother.

"Years of envy of younger brother finally came out of his mouth," Jim cackled, hitting submit. "I don't think he ever thought I would have the resources to leak this information online."

"Like I give a shit," I relaxed back to enjoy my tea. Jim shut his laptop and focused on me, his gaze drifting down to where our hands were intertwined. "do what you have to."

"Well," my lover finished his tea and turned to me on the couch. "I was thinking about us while you were in Switzerland."

"In what way?"

"I was thinking about children and marriage."

"Really? I didn't ever see you considering that at all. Ever."

"I give that impression, don't I? Where do you stand?"

"Marriage has to come first, Jim. I will not bring up a bastard."

"Agreed."

"The second thing is that I am extremely scared about getting pregnant again. What you don't know is that I had abdominal surgery at least 15 years ago which gave me a lot of scar tissue in my pelvis. I've had problems with fertility ever since."

"I probably messed up your fertility chances," I leaned closer and gave Jim a kiss. There was an open Benadryl container on the end table so in about five minutes he would be yawning like crazy.

"Don't bother about that. It's past now." I scolded him. "Come on, upstairs."

"Yes ma'am."

We both got ready for bed then I welcomed Jim's advances, kissing on the bed until he pushed me over so I was on my back. He ran his fingers through my hair, I did the same to him, we necked, he got on top of me, then the Benadryl took effect on him. It was amusing to me how a full grown man could be knocked down by a drug that quickly.

Chuckling to myself I tucked Jim into bed, then got up and went to the open window. It was now mid October and the wind was blowing colder. I shut the window and snapped shut the lock tightly. Drawing the curtains shut, I went over to the bed, feeling strangely tired but dismissing it as jet lag.

I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like I was on fire. Jim still was asleep so I took care not to disturb him as I went into the bathroom and checked my temperature.

"That's not good," it was 100.1. Low grade fever but not high enough to really be concerned about. My throat felt scratchy yet I didn't have any medicine to treat that. Isn't that the way it is sometimes?

Back into bed I linked my hand with Jim's, prayed this cold or flu bug wouldn't last long, and sank into sleep.

JIM POV

Jim Moriarty woke up the next morning feeling very refreshed. A night rain had come and washed all the pollen out of the atmosphere so he was able to breathe without the aid of antihistamines. Ruby was still asleep and it was still a bit early so he took a luxurious shower, got dressed in his regular clothes and had breakfast. His queen was back in the house and he was going to show her how much he missed her during her four days in Switzerland.

"Ruby my sweet," he trilled loudly as he entered the room. "time to have a little fun!"

Ruby did not move at all. As Jim got closer he could see that she was sweating profusely and on closer inspection he saw red patches on her throat. Jim moved her hair from her face, trying to rouse her but it didn't work very well.

"Jim..."

"Shhh.." he shushed her. "you're sick, hon. Lie still."

"My throat. .. red spots?"

She seemed to be asking whether or not she had red marks on her throat to which Jim told her nicely that she did have. Ruby put her hand to her throat, making a noise and expression of pain.

"Strep infection…"

"Right. I'm going to call a doctor. You lie quiet and rest." Jim held onto her hand as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Dr. Michael Blair. "Hello, doctor? Yeah, I have a very sick woman I'd like you to stop by and take a look at..."

About an hour later Dr. Blair turned up on the doorstep. He was middle aged, frizzy light brown and gray hair, steel blue eyes, a little fat; a black medical bag in his hand. In the other hand he had a red tackle box full of equipment that he might need. Jim opened up the door and welcomed him inside, ushering him upstairs and showing him the patient.

"Looks like a strep infection," Dr. Blair diagnosed. "let me get a throat culture to be absolutely sure but all the signs are textbook." he stuck a swab down Ruby's throat, making her gag, then withdrew it, capped it, and marked it with the time and date collected, his name and Ruby's name.

Dr. Blair gave Ruby an injection of antibiotics which would last until tomorrow when he would get the test results.

"That's all I can do for now. I remember you telling me that she was allergic to aspirin?"

"She is, yeah,"

"You can give her acetaminophen or Tylenol for short," Dr. Blair grinned. "I'll stop by tomorrow to check on her, install an IV if she's deteriorated or anything else she will need."

"Sounds good." Jim saw the doctor out, checked the bathroom cabinet where he didn't find any medicine without aspirin in it. Luckily there was a pharmacy around the corner and he wouldn't be gone long. Grabbing a jean jacket, Jim went to the pharmacy, bought a packet of Tylenol, then came back quickly.

"Two every 4 hours. Honest to pete," he snorted as he went upstairs. "a shorter acting medicine never lived!"

Jim managed to give Ruby her medicine, checked her fever which was at 103, though it was very difficult to give her fluids like the doctor had instructed him. Every time he tried to get her to drink something she would turn away. So he would open her mouth, pour a little water in, then hold her mouth closed, tickling her throat so she would swallow it.

The criminal had a few business meetings planned for that night and now he was conflicted whether he should attend them or not. Jim dwelled on that for a little while, then pulled out his phone and arranged for a few business partners to take over for him. He knew them well and they could be trusted to close the deals.

Taking the armchair from the office across the hall, Jim dragged and pushed it through the doorway, putting it directly next to Ruby's bed. He moved his laptop from downstairs to upstairs, sitting down and spending the day working on more articles to spill the dirt on Sherlock. Jim chose to write about Sherlock's adolescent fantasies about pirates and titled the article Redbeard: Sherlock's Delusion.

When the sun went down, Jim closed his laptop and sighed, checking on Ruby. She didn't seem any different so he went downstairs to get a late supper.

At around 4 PM the next day, Dr. Blair turned up with a prescription for antibiotics, having confirmed the infection was bacterial in nature.

"Here we are, Jim," he handed over the script. "any luck getting fluids in her?"

"Not a lot. She keeps refusing."

"Hmmm," Dr. Blair chuckled. "she is a doctor herself.. But I have the technology here." he pulled an IV bag out of the tackle box, selected a needle catheter and tubing. The doctor had Jim assist, holding up the tubing and bag until Dr. Blair could assemble the collapsible IV stand.

When Ruby was all connected to the IV line, Dr. Blair used a rather generous amount of surgical tape to keep the tubing in place. He then pulled out a Foley catheter, telling Jim he didn't have to assist with the installation.

"This is all really necessary?" Jim did not like the idea of his bedroom being turned into a hospital room.

"Very much so. Has she woken up at all?"

"No."

"She's unresponsive completely?" Jim nodded. "unresponsiveness.. we would call that a coma. I'm going to ask for a visiting nurse to come in once a day to check on her." Dr. Blair lifted off the blood pressure cuff and listened to her heart.

"Now Jim, I know you'll worry but I want you to remember that some kinds of bacterial infections take longer to heal from and this is one of them. She will recover even though it may not seem like it right now." Dr. Blair cuffed Jim on the shoulder.

"I'll try not to worry but the longer she's comatose, the longer it'll take for her to get well." he admitted.

"Give it time," Dr. Blair coached him. "call me if her fever goes up. I've left you some more powerful anti fever medications in syringe form. Give her one at bedtime as it'll last 12 hours."

"OK. Thanks." Dr. Blair left.

Two days of injecting the anti fever drug and tolerating the annoyingly cheerful nurse, Jim was about ready to snap. Ruby never moved once and he was beginning to despair of her ever waking up.

The nurse had tried to encourage him to look after himself but he only did the essentials like showering and eating. Most of his time was spent finishing writing the series of the articles and often ignoring mealtimes altogether. His brow seemed to be permanently etched in concern for his lover.

Once the nurse left at the end of the second day, Jim injected Ruby with the latest dose of medicine, threw the empty syringe into the trash, then jammed his hands over his eyes.

The frustration built up inside of him for days and now he felt like he could finally let it go. Tears fell thick and fast, he leaned forward to the edge of the bed, taking Ruby's hand in his, and quietly cried.

"Ruby," he gulped when he was able to lift his head up. "come back… I love you.."

RUBY POV

My head was swimming. One moment I was hot, next I would be cold, but it felt like I was burning in Dante's inferno! I knew I was getting sick but nobody wanted to be sick if they could help it!

All I knew was that I had crazy feverish dreams which I could not remember for the life of me. The burning feeling was finally gone, I felt sweaty and dirty, but the soreness in my throat was gone and my fever had broken.

Cracking open one eye I saw my right hand was connected to an IV line and I was uncomfortable downstairs. Someone had put a Foley line into my bladder. Overlooking that, I turned and saw Jim was lying in the armchair he dragged in. He looked unkempt, disheveled, not his usual self at all. Lines of stress and fatigue made themselves known under his eyes and around his mouth.

Poor guy. He needed rest in a bed. My hand had Jim's over it so I took it with my left hand, giving it a good squeeze.

He snapped awake like I had jolted him with a taser. Jim's eyes bugged out when he saw me gazing at him clearly. Before I knew it, he had gotten beside me in the bed in a full body hug.

"Careful, hon," I winced as he hugged too hard. "I'm very fragile."

"Oh, sorry."

"You need rest, Jim. Snuggle up." he carefully maneuvered me so my head was against his chest so I heard his heartbeat. "Sorry if I stink." I giggled.

"You're finally awake." Jim sighed, wanting to kiss me but he didn't want to get sick.

"Not for long." I giggled as we fell asleep together.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Encounter

By the time I woke up, I snuggled up to Jim, still hearing his heart beat. His eyes were open, he was stroking my hair, his eyes suspiciously damp. I made a little sound to signal him I was waking up, then looked up into his dark eyes. He smiled and his eyes cleared, but I was certain that I saw tears.

"Jim, you're upset," my right hand framed the left side of his face. "what is it?"

Of course as a guy he would try to hide it. "Nothing,"

"Don't tell me it's nothing, hon," I shifted, trying to get more comfortable. "tell me what's been going on. I can't remember a thing."

"You wouldn't be able to," his voice had a slight roughness to it. "you've been in a coma for the past three days."

"Shit." I could see why he was so distressed. It was like sharing a room with an inanimate object that used to hug and kiss you. Jim didn't elaborate any further but I understood what he had been feeling. He still looked stressed out but the stress lines in his face relaxed a bit. Someone you loved, so vibrant and full of life reduced to an object like a lamp or book, something that didn't change no matter how hard you willed it to. That would be hard to confront and there was always a question of what if I'd never woken up?

Glancing up at Jim again I could see he was biting his lip, trying not to think of everything that had happened. What would be good for him was a release of his stress. Not saying a word, I caressed his face, making a shushing noise, allowing him to decide what he wanted to do. The emotions fought it out in his face, especially in his eyes as he struggled.

"Tell me what you're feeling," I requested gently, holding his face in my hands. "You don't have to if you don't want to. If you need a good cry, do it."

"Really?"

"Of course, hon," the reassurance did the trick. Jim needed it completely in order not to make himself sick. My lover had no resistance to what I suggested. For the first time I'd ever seen, Jim Moriarty broke down, burying his face in my shoulder. He cried for a few minutes, not speaking but that would come. I hugged him to me, saying some words of comfort as he wound down and began to get a grip on himself.

I picked up the tissue box from my end table and wiped the tears off of Jim's face. He looked ashamed at first, trying to apologize for what he called a show of weakness but I dismissed that, saying that everyone needed to express how they felt. Sternly I told him not to apologize to me for something that he really needed, dabbing off the last tear.

The doctor came in then, the name of whom I don't remember, freed me from the Foley and the IV, gave me a few more days' worth of antibiotics to clear out the infection, then left. Jim helped me stand up though my legs felt like they were made out of glass, all stiff and unyielding.

"I think a bath would help you."

"And you," I retorted, trying to walk but my muscles would not move. "damnit!"

"Come on!" Jim picked me up and put me in the bathroom, stripping all my clothes off. I ran the water until it was at a temperature that I liked, then he helped me in.

Both of us were still too tired from our ordeals that there was nothing erotic about my bath. Jim helped me massage my stiff muscles and joints until I was able to get everything moving properly again.

There wasn't much else memorable about that day except the fact Jim did not leave my side very much. We threw on movies in the DVD player and watched them for the entire day. That being said, I slept through at least two of the movies but Jim wasn't annoyed. He said he liked it, me sleeping quietly in his arms. I liked it too for the protection and comfort it brought me.

With the movie blaring and Jim highly interested in it, I decided that with Jim's arms around me, making me feel safe and loved, it was my heaven on earth. Especially when just as I was on the verge of dozing off, Jim would kindly brush a small kiss on my cheek and whisper, "Sleep well, hon."

"Oh, looks like Sherlock is stirring up trouble. One of my assassins near his flat just called me," Jim noted from the Scotland Yard YouTube page one morning. "prepare yourself, Ruby. He's going to want a member of the press on his side and he's more than likely going to come after Kitty to give an exclusive."

"When do you think?" I had fully recovered from my illness through Jim's watchful eye though it did get a bit annoying. I had no intention of hurting him so I put up with it in good humor.

"Tonight." Jim closed the YouTube window that had the Scotland Yard bulletin about Sherlock, then stood up.

"So how's this going to play out exactly?" I leaned against the kitchen counter with a mug of coffee in my hands.

"They will react exactly to how we want them to," Jim's eyes sparkled. "all you have to do is..."

That night when we heard Sherlock and John had escaped from the cops, Jim and I stayed across the street at a little bookstore until we saw the two of them jimmy open the lock on our townhouse and get inside.

"Now's your chance. I'll be along in about two minutes." my lover whispered to me. I squared my shoulders, lifted my head up, then crossed the street over to the townhouse. I had no need to unlock the door as Sherlock never troubled himself about menial door locking.

The two of them were planted right on the couch as I flicked on a light and entered the room. John and Sherlock talked to me as I put the articles out on the coffee table, then Jim entered.

It was like someone lit a fire under John, who kept insisting that Jim had tried to blow him up while Sherlock was in stunned silence. Jim, under the guise of Richard Brook, tried to appeal to John's more rational side. Sherlock unloaded his verbal tirade against Jim, who ran upstairs, went to the fire escape and clambered down, taking off in one direction.

Unknown to them, Jim had cut around a vacant car parking lot and reentered the townhouse through the front door. I congratulated him on a job well done, welcoming him with a kiss.

"Now comes the time crunch, Ruby," his eyes looked hooded in the dark light. "he's going to play his next move within the next 24 hours as he unravels my plan."

"What's going to happen to you?"

"I don't know. I'm prepared for every possible outcome, remember that. I will say this: if you hear that I'm dead, know that I am not," he tilted my head up to meet his with his finger under my chin. "I will come for you."

"Oh, Jim.." something cool had slipped onto my finger. I looked down and held it up. Glittering on my ring finger was a golden band with three small diamonds set into it. I actually gasped for the first time ever, making Jim grin widely, his hand on mine.

"Oh, Jim!" I eagerly kissed him with everything that I had in me. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes it is," he put his arms around me like he was going to dance with me right there and then. "so?"

"Of course I will." I slid my hands down to his pants, tugging on his belt suggestively.

"Well, eager for me, aren't you?" he put his hands on mine, helping me to undo his belt buckle.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" impishly I giggled as he swept me up off my feet and took me upstairs.

Jim and I spent the night like we were already married. Not to go into too many details, but I could swear the bed was actually shaking from our efforts! We went at each other like two lusty teenagers.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Final Day

When I awakened the next day, Jim was spooning me. He ran his hand lightly along my arm, his ears were nearly touching my lips. My fiance now was murmuring things into my ear.

"Today we get married," Jim brushed back a stray bit of hair from my eye, briefly running his fingers over that side of my face. "I've known you since November so it's almost a year."

"A year full of change," I answered, kissing his forefinger as it passed by my lips. "I thank the day that I happened upon your doorstep." Jim turned me around so I faced him, then kissed me long and hard.

"Once we're married, we can think about other things," my fiance put a hand on my belly. "but no pressure."

"I hope not," I chuckled, pressing my hand to his. "it might be a long fight, Jim. Not to mention cost a lot in fertility treatments. I might need to undergo surgery."

"Really?"

"With my scar tissue it might need to be removed and I've never had that done before. I know it will be quite painful as that stuff grows back."

"I don't think that needs to happen." he kissed my stomach. "As a doctor, you would know that the stomach has one of those nerves that leads straight to your clit."

"An erogenous zone," I acknowledged. "also in the wrist, neck, etc."

"Very good. Well, we need to get up so we can go and get married."

"So soon? I'm a bit surprised but not really." Jim laughed and smacked my ass as I got up. "What do I wear?"

"How about this?" he handed me a brand new dress which had a white button up top which had a zebra striped skirt.

"Oh, I like," Jim got into his best suit while I put on the dress, pairing it with a necklace of pearls and pearl stud earrings Jim had also given me for my birthday several months ago. I pulled out a pair of thigh high tights that Jim insisted on helping me put on, then I put on my simple black pumps. "makeup, then we can go."

"You don't need any." Jim told me as he watched me put on eyeshadow.

"You'll think different once you see me in the sunlight." a dab of mascara, my pink lipstick, then I was ready. Jim slid my leather jacket onto my shoulders, handed me my purse, then we took the Accord to the chapel.

We were married without any trouble or fanfare, nobody there but us, the priest, and a cleric as a witness.

Finally I was married to a man that I loved! I gave him a sweet kiss, he gently scolded me for getting lipstick on him, then we went back to the townhouse. Jim kissed me up the stairs, unbuttoning my dress, tossing it aside and so on. I stripped him down, pushed him onto the bed, then he reached over for the box of Trojans.

"Leave 'em," I whispered, kissing his collarbone and working my way down. "no fear of a bastard now, right?"

Jim looked impressed with me now. "You sure? What if you miscarry?"

"Then I do. I hope you'll be there for all of it."

"I can't make any promises. Sure you don't have any regrets marrying me?"

"No, Jim. I love you and I trust you. All I ask is that you keep me informed."

"I will do my best. Just remember that I would never do anything to hurt you." Jim kissed the back of my hand.

When we were done, it was nearing dusk as we'd spent almost the whole day in bed. I tidied up the townhouse then Jim's cell phone went off.

"I need to go to St. Bart's," he stood up and put his suit back on. "Sherlock."

"Jim, please be careful," I pleaded as he put on his greatcoat. "don't get too crazy."

Jim turned from the door, catching me up in a bear hug. To my surprise his eyes were looking a bit damp, as mine were as well. For a moment I saw the hardness in his eyes, the determination to go through with whatever he had planned for Sherlock. There was no point in trying to dissuade him. I had accepted that fact about him long ago so I didn't waste my breath.

He was definitely a bit conflicted which I had never seen in his eyes before. Jim would never concede that of course, but I had precedence in his mind now as his wife. Maybe his obsession with Sherlock would wane over time but it wasn't going to happen today.

I knew through my own experiences that planning an event of any kind then suddenly being talked out of doing it was something I always regretted so I didn't try to do it with Jim. Weirdly enough something in his eyes seem to ask me to talk him out of his scheme but I ignored it.

"I can't talk you out of this," I reached up to take his face in my hands. "nor can I tell you to really be careful, but all I ask is that you come back to me."

Jim brought my hands down from his face, held them in his hands for a moment as I saw the appreciation in his eyes. "I love you," he then took my face in his hands. "thank you for not trying to change me."

"I'd never do that to you, Jim. Just please come back to me."

"I will." he breathed, a little choked with emotion like I was. My husband drew me in for a long romantic kiss, then went out the door.

A few hours later I was sitting on the couch sipping tea and reading a book about Elizabeth the first when I noticed an envelope with my name on it sitting on Jim's desk. I crossed over to the desk, sat down on the office chair, then began to read the letter.

"My dear wife Ruby,

"I write this to you as you're in the bed next to me, sleeping away. It's been a few days since your recovery from that strep infection since you put me through the emotional wringer so to speak. I could not help but think of my life without you if you died from the illness.

"I know it was a remote chance that you would have died, Dr. Blair is a very competent doctor and I knew you would make a full recovery even though it took awhile to get there, didn't it? I didn't know quite what a coma was until Blair explained it to me-a nonresponsive vegetative state. It scared me to think that you were in that state and might never wake up.

"Darling, I am sorry truly about how I treated you in the early days when we first met. I know you would brush it off but I still wanted to say I'm sorry.

"You know of my attitude towards Sherlock and you never said anything about it. Then you took me for a walk that day at Aster Hall, demonstrating a kind of acceptance I'd never seen before. Even my people would tell me I was obsessed with Sherlock and I'd either kill him or die trying.

"You never talked me out of my schemes but seemed at peace with the fact that this was the kind of man that I am. It's hard to believe someone who is near me in my own age could be so understanding and sweet. You made me feel like I was a normal person, never giving me any reason to doubt you; you never doubted me and encouraged me.

"See why we got married? You're so good to me and I'm good for you. I am watching you sleep at the moment, it's a little pleasure of mine. Did you know at Aster Hall that I would often go into your room after you went to bed and I would just watch you sleep for a moment or two?

"But down to the main business of the letter. Because of our conversations regarding head wounds and the effects, I staged what will happen to me to make Sherlock believe that I was dead. I put a fake blood packet on the back of my head which had a sensor I could set off with a remote. Sherlock saw me put the gun in my mouth but it was loaded with a squib or a blank shot made out of wax.

"Originally I had been planning to shoot myself in the leg literally or shoot myself in the stomach like you'd originally suggested, but I didn't want to shoot myself as I'm sure you understand.

"There is my second-in-command you should know about called Sebastian Moran. He's my right hand man in case anything goes wrong and he will be in touch with you. Thanks to you recovering the outstanding payments you yourself collected (you naughty vixen!) and several emails asking to meet you for another round, I was able to give Seb a nice bonus with his paycheck.

"He's going to take care of the business for me until I return. I put the townhouse and Aster Hall in your name to do with as you see fit, and also the Accord. If there are any outstanding debts to my company, Seb will give you the information. If you want to take a more active part in my company you will be more than welcome to.

"Financially I have given you your own credit card which is jointly attached to my account. The relevant info is down below for you to peruse later at your leisure. The fifty thousand you recovered out of almost half a million you helped to recover I give to you as your commission. Do with it as you like, renovate the hall or townhouse, etc. Your good sense will guide you."

"Now I must close, darling. You're still weak from your illness right now and I will say that I am gratified to see you recovering though it is still too slow for my liking!

"With all my love, Jim."

My eyes teared up from the letter though I refused to shed them. Jim wasn't technically dead so I didn't grieve for him. He was someplace else, I didn't know where but that was for my own safety as well as his.

Upstairs I had a personal folder full of personal mementos from people who were important in my life. I slipped upstairs, pulling out the folder and shuffling through it. There were several notes from old classmates, kindly teachers, etc. I put Jim's letter at the front of the folder, furtively brushing at my eyes.


	16. Chapter 16

EPILOGUE

Two months after Jim had to disappear, I began feeling quite sick in the mornings. Thinking it was the flu I began to take better care of myself but the illness just didn't go away. My instinct began to kick in, telling me maybe that Jim and I had a little one on the way.

The instinct became more certain as I bought a test and confirmed it. I set myself up with appointments, got all of the necessary health screenings done including ultrasounds.

Jim should have been there with me to hold my hand as the technician took all the measurements, etc, then printed out a copy of the best picture. On the back I wrote down, "Baby Moriarty, eight weeks in utero."

It was so depressing to be back in the townhouse without Jim. We had a wedding photo of us together and that was it. I shut the window in the kitchen, shivering in the cold, one hand over my pelvic region. Turning, I bit back tears as I thought about how Jim was going to miss so much of the baby's life. He didn't know how long he'd been away but guessed at least two years.

JIM POV

Ruby was so close and yet so far from him. Jim watched the kitchen window and his heart leaped when he saw his wife close it, not missing the fact that she had a hand protectively over her pelvis.

So he was going to be a father! Jim wished that he could cross the street and enter the townhouse but that was out of the question. Seb had told him that Ruby had felt sick the past few months so Jim had briefly arranged to come back and check in on his beloved wife.

People often thought of Jim as a monster, but he was just as human as anyone else and he'd always wanted a family. He wished that he was there with Ruby, to comfort her, bring her medicine, just talk with her about anything. They'd never even discussed baby names but he would go along with anything she could think of. He would miss Ruby's experiences as she grew heavy with their child, he would miss the birth of his child, etc.

"Sir?" Seb came up behind Jim and put his hand on his shoulder. "We've just had intelligence that Ruby's-"

"She's pregnant," Jim finished. "I know."

Seb sighed. "I'm sorry, sir. I wish you could be there with her."

"Me too, Seb. Come on, we have to go." reluctantly, Jim turned and walked away.

END


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